Last weekend, I was honored to attend Kiwanis International's (KI) 96th International Convention. A delegation of USF and UNICEF colleagues traveled to Geneva, Switzerland to help Kiwanis officially launch their global campaign for children, The Eliminate Project.
The aim of The Eliminate Project is to raise $110 million to fill the funding gap to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), a disease affecting mothers and babies in, many cases, the most remote and hard to reach locations in the world.
For me, a highlight of the kick-off was listening to Dr. Francois Gasse, formerly of UNICEF, now retired and consulting around the world on this issue, share his experiences of a life dedicated to eliminating MNT at a special luncheon attended by 800 members.
A humble man with a delightful sense of humor, he started off his talk visibly moved as he noted that the true heros of elimination efforts are vaccinators who travel intrepidly--sometimes for days on foot--in order to reach women who are not yet protected by this lifesaving vaccine.
He shared thoughts on mothers-in-law (including his own), saying sometimes their practices may not make sense to you but you may decide to bide by it to keep the peace at home. But in some cases traditional practices are harmful. He showed a photo of a rather stern looking mother-in-law in Cambodia who believed it wise to use the nesting material of a dung wasp to apply to the cut umbilical cord on the baby after birth. (This practice could potentially lead to deadly tetanus spores entering the infant's body.)
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/unicefusa/fieldnotes/~3/f2MzT0bnB5E/committed_to_eliminate.html
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar