Our NextAid initiative
We are a humanitarian organisation at our core and believe no person should die from a preventable disease.
What is NextAid
At Next Practice, we want to provide a bridge to those that are less fortunate than us in any way we can. That's
why for every consultation at a Next Practice medical centre, we donate a
vaccination to someone in need in the developing world. We call it our
NextAid initiative.
Total vaccinations donated
Since beginning our NextAid program in October 2018, the Next Practice Community have donated towards a total of 85,893 vaccinations! With 2,414 vaccinations being donated towards the program in April 2022 alone.
How it works
Proceeds from each patient consultation within the Next Practice
network is donated through UNICEF Australia to sponsor
a vaccination against Maternal Tetanus. At the moment, our goal is to
focus solely on Maternal Tetanus (MNT) vaccinations to eliminate the
disease in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Why Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination (MNTE)?
Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) represents a very high proportion of the total Tetanus disease. MNT is a swift and painful killer disease and extremely fatal in newborns- killing 30,848 newborns in 2017 alone.
MNT has been among the most common life-threatening consequences of unclean deliveries and umbilical cord care practices and are indicators of inequity in access to immunization and other maternal, newborn, and child health services.
Once the disease is contracted, the fatality rate can be as high as 100% without hospital care and between 10% to 60% with hospital care. The true extent of the Tetanus death toll is not known as many newborns and mothers die at home and neither the birth nor the death is reported.
This happens despite the fact that MNT deaths can be easily prevented
by hygienic delivery and cord care practices, and/or by immunizing
children and women with Tetanus Toxoid Containing Vaccines (TTCV), that
are inexpensive and very effective, through the life course.
While progress continues to be made, 13 countries have still not reached the MNTE status, including Papa New Guinea. Activities to achieve the goal are on-going in these countries and the World Health Organisation is hopeful that many are likely to achieve MNTE in the near future.
Look out for further information on donations on our News and Articles page or in the clinic.
You can find out more information on MNTE from UNICEF here.