COTE D’IVOIRE / TETANUS

Tetanus, a bacteria that thrives on dirt and rust, generally enters the body through cuts on the skin from infected sharp objects. Add this to other infectious diseases and lack of adequate health services, the national infant mortality rate in Cote d'Ivoire reaches 89out of 1000 live births. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:29
• Production Date: 20 June 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: HEALTH; HEALTH SERVICES; DISEASES
• Geographic Subject: COTE D'IVOIRE
• MAMS Id: U090620b

Description

STORY: COTE D’IVOIRE / TETANUS
TRT: 2:29
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/FRENCH/NATS

DATELINE: 20 MAY 2009, ABIDJAN, COTE D’IVOIRE

Shotlist

1. Med shot, midwife examining woman in labour
2. Close up, woman on maternity bed
3. Close up, midwife listening to belly
4. Med shot, midwives attending delivery
5. Close up, umbilical cord being cut
6. Close up, newborn with umbilical left
7. Med shot, midwife writing notes
8. Close up, health chart showing dates of vaccination
9. SOUNDBITE (French) Bernadette Kah, midwife:
“After the birth, the child will not be protected. For this reason we will give the child and the mother a tetanus serum, after which, the mother will also receive her second dose of tetanus vaccine.”
10. Wide shot, GV Abidjan
11. Med shot, GV Abidjan
12. Wide shot, Maternity waiting room
13. Med shot, Maternity bed and tools
14. Med shot, newborn being cleaned
15. Med shot, Newborn umbilical cord being cleaned
16. Med shot, mother picking up newborn baby
17. SOUNDBITE (French) Dr. Mamadou Keita, district director of Easter Abobo’s Department of Health for the Government of Ivory Coast:
“They put decoctions – extracts of leaves on the umbilical cord and also on the mother… But these are clearly not sterile.”
18. Wide shot, tetanus campaign banner
19. Med shot, vaccinations
20. Close up, Vaccination shot
21. Med shot, vaccination of woman
22. Close up, young women at vaccination station
23. Close up, woman being vaccinated
24. Med shot, young girl being vaccinated
25. SOUNDBITE (French) Ange Niama, logistician, National Institute of Public Health:
“We keep the medicines in cold storage truck that maintain the temperature between two and eight degrees Celsius. Then we take them to the site.”
26. Close up, tetanus vaccine box
27. Med shot, vaccine station
28. Close up, syringes
29. Close up, Vaccines in cooler block
30. Close up, syringe pulling vaccine
31. Close up, girl’s face after vaccination
32. SOUNDBITE (English) Maarit Hirvonen, Country Representative, UNICEF:
“Now we are 39 countries with the tetanus problem, and Cote d’Ivoire is one of those, where we try to eliminate, and we hope that next year, 2010, we would have been eliminated, and then we could attack other problems that harm mothers and their babies at a very early age.”
33. Close up, newborn
34. Close up, newborn swaddled
35. Med shot, Sabra and her baby

Storyline

Sabra Seydou arrived at the Abobo clinic in Abidjan with only a few minutes to spare before giving birth.

This is her second visit to the clinic since the beginning of her pregnancy.
Extreme poverty has meant Sabra could not afford pre-natal tests or consultations. She was however able to have her first vaccination against tetanus, provided free by the Ivoirian government.

Her second vaccination was scheduled for next week.

SOUNDBITE (French) Bernadette Kah, midwife:
“After the birth, the child will not be protected. For this reason we will give the child and the mother a tetanus serum, after which, the mother will also receive her second dose of tetanus vaccine.”

Tetanus, a bacteria that thrives on dirt and rust, generally enters the body through cuts on the skin from infected sharp objects. Add this to other infectious diseases and lack of adequate health services, the national infant mortality rate reaches 89 out of 1000 live births.

The disease can also be contracted by the application of traditional medicines used postpartum.

SOUNDBITE (French) Dr. Mamadou Keita, district director of Easter Abobo’s Department of Health for the Government of Ivory Coast:
“They put decoctions – extracts of leaves on the umbilical cord and also on the mother ... but these are clearly not sterile.”

To address this serious killer of women and children, the Ivorian Government, with the support of UNICEF and other international partners have held a three-phase vaccination campaign throughout the country. The campaign reaches into every neighborhood in Ivory Coast and aims to immunize over 5 million women.

For a post-conflict country with a tropical climate, the logistics are impressive.

SOUNDBITE (French) Ange Niama, logistician, National Institute of Public Health:
“We keep the medicines in cold storage truck that maintain the temperature between two and eight degrees Celsius. Then we take them to the site.”

Routine immunizations for Tetanus and other deadly and paralyzing diseases such as measles and polio continue throughout the year, as part of the Ivory Coast’s commitment to health and development.

SOUNDBITE (English) Maarit Hirvonen, Country Representative, UNICEF:
“Now we are 39 countries with the tetanus problem, and Cote d’Ivoire is one of those, where we try to eliminate, and we hope that next year, 2010, we would have been eliminated, and then we could attack other problems that harm mothers and their babies at a very early age.”

For Sabra and her newborn baby boy, immunization against tetanus is the first step in a healthy life together.