NORWICH – One month after returning from an eye-opening trip to the Philippines, Norwich Pharmaceutical Department Manager Bridgetta Jones will speak of the experience at a special brunch and fundraiser, to be held at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Park Place Lounge and Restaurant.

In April, Jones travelled to the sovereign nation, representing the local pharmaceutical manufacturer as part of a delegation of Kiwanis International and UNICEF representatives sent there to aid in UNICEF’s Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) immunization effort, known globally as the Eliminate Project.

According to statistics gathered by the project’s leaders, MNT is responsible for approximately 60,000 deaths every year, including mothers and children; results in the death of one newborn every nine minutes and targets the most impoverished women and children on Earth. The leading causes are: a lack of – or limited access to – immunization and prenatal care services; limited or absent clean delivery services; and improper postpartum cord care.

The fatality rate – in areas such as the Philippines – can reach as high as 100 percent.

“For me, it was a very enlightening experience ... it was very different than I thought it would be,” said Jones. “Some of these people travel great distances to get immunized. The education process is already in place, it’s simply a matter of providing the immunizations.”

The cost of the immunization is less than $2 per woman of child-bearing age, she added.