Validation of maternal and neonatal tetanus in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Overview

As of March 2019, 46/59 (78%) countries with a high burden of maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) had been validated as having eliminated this major cause of neonatal deaths; 13 countries remain to be validated, of which 11 are in the African and Eastern Mediterranean regions. Elimination of MNT is defined as <1 case of neonatal tetanus (NT) per 1000 live births (LBs) per district over 1 year.

Since the relaunch of the MNT elimination initiative in 2000, the number of districts that have reported >1 case of NT/1000 LBs has decreased substantially in most countries. In 2017, only 30 848 cases of NT were reported globally, whereas nearly 1 million had been reported 2 decades previously, when the global MNT elimination initiative was launched.1 Fragile health systems and limited access to populations due to conflict or insurgency have constrained implementation of the initiative in most of the remaining countries and will delay the global goal of MNT elimination by 2020.