Fieldnotes: Blogging on UNICEF's child survival work in the field
Entries from Fieldnotes tagged with 'Pampers'
Gifts that give back for the holidays
With holiday season gearing up, U.S. Fund for UNICEF corporate partners are offering a varied range of gifts that give back.
Want to give a present that also makes a difference for children? From bracelets to luxury goods and accessories, writing instruments to soft toys, several corporations have created dedicated items that will help UNICEF. Gucci, IKEA, Montblanc and Cartier have joined this year in support of UNICEF's mission, and will make a donation for each purchase of dedicated items this holiday season to support UNICEF's lifesaving programs. Click here for details of each company's offer.
Yes, We Can Get to Zero
I’ve always known that maternal and neonatal tetanus is a deadly but preventable disease. I have never met anyone who has contracted it. Nor had I even heard of a case, that is, until meeting Caryl. Honestly, I didn’t even think tetanus existed anymore. I thought it was akin to an urban legend.
Moms unite to fight tetanus
Heather Maddan, editor of lilsugar.com, attended a briefing organized by Pampers, UNICEF’s partner in the “One Pack = One Vaccine” campaign, at Procter & Gamble’s headquarters in July 2008. While at the briefing, Heather was given the opportunity to meet with Pampers executives and U.S. Fund for UNICEF President and CEO, Caryl Stern, to discover what the “One Pack = One Vaccine” campaign was all about.
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| © UNICEF |
I take tucking my two healthy kids into bed for granted. In the time it takes for us to go to work, to school, to the playground and run errands, laugh, eat, and make memories; thousands of children around the world have died. It's unfathomable — to think about the pain their mothers endure and that this is happening in 2009. That's why I believe in zero.
As mothers, it is our instinct to help those we see in harm's way—the fallen child or the tot running toward traffic, but it's hard to assist those that we do not see, people who struggle just to survive. The infant in Sierra Leone with newborn tetanus taking her last breath.
You're never too young to make a difference in someone else's life!
Gabriella Malek is a Broadway performer and spokesperson for Broadway Kids Care. BKC’s members have participated in a variety of charitable works. Pampers’ “One Pack = One Vaccine” campaign to benefit UNICEF, a program which provides funding to protect women and their newborn babies against maternal and neonatal tetanus, has become a favorite…
I get this great rush of excitement giving to other people, the same as when I am performing a show. I think my friends that join me at Broadway Kids Care feel the same way as I do. My motto is you’re never too young to make a difference in someone else’s life! This is also what Kelly Gonda, the founder of BKC had in mind when she formed Broadway Kids Care, an organization where Broadway kids get together to give back to the community and make a difference.
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| © Broadway Kids Care |
| Gabriella Malek at a bake sale to benefit UNICEF. |
After watching Salma Hayek on the Oprah Winfrey show last year, Broadway Kids Care was inspired to get involved with Pampers’ “One Pack = One Vaccine” campaign to benefit UNICEF. We began a series of events that would help raise money. This began with a performance at Family Day as part of the Tribecca Film Festival, where we collected money for UNICEF. We were very excited to continue raising funds for UNICEF and we got busy making potholders and baking treats for our 2nd annual bake sale. I like to say this event was a sweet success!
I'm a Believer
Christine Koh, founder and editor of the BostonMamas.com blog, attended a briefing organized by Pampers, UNICEF’s partner in the “One Pack = One Vaccine” campaign. This post is the first in a series by bloggers who participated in that briefing.
I’ll admit it. Six months ago, Pampers and UNICEF were well-known yet impersonal entities to me. I bought the diapers and tossed money into the collection boxes, but that was where the relationship ended.
That remote rapport changed, however, thanks to my attendance at Pampers’ first mom blogger meeting in Cincinnati - where I first learned about the “One Pack = One Vaccine” campaign - and at the recent New York media event, where the North American campaign re-launch was announced.
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| © Christine Koh/2009 |
| Gorgeous, articulate, and passionate about the cause. |
The campaign’s success statistics are heartening, but it was the raw passion I witnessed in Cincinnati and New York that turned me from skeptic to believer. In Cincinnati I saw this passion at every level of the Pampers operational chain, and in New York, I felt the fervor both at the press conference – where we watched video clips from Africa and met New York kids who raised money for the campaign through a bake sale – and during the small group mom blogger interview with campaign spokesperson Salma Hayek.
One Pack = One Vaccine: Together we can make a difference
About this time last year, I assumed the role of spokesperson for Pampers’ One Pack=One Vaccine campaign. What began as a valuable project for a few months in the U.S. and Canada soon grew into a passionate global journey, taking me from L.A., Chicago and New York to Hamburg, Geneva and London. Most importantly, I was able to spend time with UNICEF meeting mothers and children in Sierra Leone, where one in four children will die before they reach the age of five.
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| © UNICEF |
| Pamper's One Pack = One Vaccine Spokesperson, Salma Hayek, meeting mothers in Sierra Leone. |
When we announced this campaign on the Oprah Winfrey Show last April, I could never have imagined the response from the public or my own reaction as I learned more about what UNICEF was aiming to do—eliminate Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus. This campaign is not just about a temporary fix—it’s aiming to completely wipe out a killer disease in 46 countries. Tetanus is a cruel disease that preys on innocent newborns in poor countries. And it is entirely preventable through a series of lifesaving, but inexpensive, vaccines.
While on the road this past year, I have spoken with people about how our individual actions can support something bigger than any one of us could achieve alone. Just think what it means that mothers in the US, Canada and Europe—simply by purchasing the Pampers brand of specially-marked diapers and wipes—can enable another woman in a developing country to receive a lifesaving vaccine, to prevent unnecessary agony and death from tetanus. That's a big, beautiful idea, and one that I am proud to be part of.
Sierra Leone: In honor of Fatima
U.S. Fund for UNICEF President and CEO Caryl Stern recently visited Sierra Leone with Pampers "One Pack = One Vaccine" campaign spokesperson Salma Hayek and Pampers representatives, to witness the effect of tetanus on mothers and newborns, and the positive impact of the Pampers/UNICEF program. She sent this post from the field.
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| © UNICEF/ HQ98-0510/Pirozzi | |
| SIERRA LEONE: An adolescent girl holds her baby in her lap near Freetown, the capital. |
UNICEF's Dr. Yvonne Hardy and I sat on the floor with 19-year-old Memunata as we watched her tiny newborn daughter struggle for her life in a small crib next to her. Memunata had given birth to her first child exactly seven days prior. The delivery took place at home with the assistance of a traditional (but unskilled) birth attendant.
The labor went well by all accounts, and the baby girl screamed and cried on her arrival as anyone would expect. But within 48 hours, the baby was crying relentlessly and stopped nursing. Her jaw was clenched shut.
Memunata was frantic and found the birth attendant who told her to go to a local health facility. When she arrived at the clinic, the baby was diagnosed with tetanus and immediately referred to Ola During Children's Hospital, the only pediatric facility in Sierra Leone.
Yvonne went to the hospital in the early afternoon to meet with Memunata and her baby in advance of the rest of our group.
We arrived in time to learn that Memunata had just expressed her breast milk into a plastic cup, eager to feed her baby with a syringe. But the baby couldn't take it. We heard tiny gasps and watched as the baby convulsed, her back arched and her arms locked. She did that every so often, over the course of a few hours. The pain she was feeling was obvious. We all felt it.
The story with maternal and neonatal tetanus
We've mentioned tetanus a few times in recent blog posts (like here and here) and I thought I'd briefly explain just why tetanus is such a big deal for us. In the U.S., we're routinely vaccinated against tetanus as kids, and we generally don't have to worry about it unless we have an accident that makes us vulnerable—like stepping on a rusty nail or falling down some old stairs (as I did a few weeks ago, necessitating a tetanus booster shot).
But, in many countries, tetanus remains a very big problem. It's a truly awful and painful condition that develops when a bacteria, Clostridium Tetani, contaminates a wound or cut. (For more information than you may want about tetanus, check out this Wikipedia page.) And in some countries, the fatality rate for tetanus is 70 to 100 percent.
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| © UNICEF/ HQ00-0003/Giacomo Pirozzi |
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Welcome to Fieldnotes. Blogging gives us the ability to quickly report from the field, alert you to media coverage of interest, and share the success of UNICEF's lifesaving work around the globe.
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