Juliette Rasoazanary, 27, mother of two, in Soamonina village, Madagascar

Juliette lives with her husband and two children in the rural village of Soamonina, situated in the highlands of central Madagascar. Despite being a mother of two young boys aged two and a half and nine months, Juliette works as a farmer to support her family and her husband works as a brick layer. The community she lives in, which consists of 1750 inhabitants, is 10km away from the nearest health centre, a three hour walk.

Health programmes including vaccination campaigns against Maternal and Newborn Tetanus, which are supported by the Pampers and UNICEF “1 pack + 1 vaccine” campaign, help keep mothers such as Juliette and their children healthy, despite the challenges they face living in such a rural area.

Juliette learnt about the importance of vaccines from the community health worker in her village. The community health workers play an integral role in saving the lives of women and children by running vaccination campaign awareness programmes and walking door-to-door to advise and remind women that they must be vaccinated to protect themselves and their unborn babies from deadly diseases including Maternal and Newborn Tetanus.

Juliette’s journey to the nearest health centre is long and challenging, but this didn’t stop her from walking for three hours in labour to deliver her son Julio in a safe and clean environment.

The Pampers and UNICEF “1 pack + 1 vaccine” campaign has funded vaccination programmes in Madagascar helping to eliminate the disease across the country. Despite helping to eliminate Maternal and Newborn Tetanus in a total of 15 countries, including Madagascar, there are still an estimated 100 million women and their newborns in 24 countries who are still at risk from the fatal disease.

Written by Georgina Thompson, UNICEF