By Emma Jane Kirby BBC correspondent in Geneva

The United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) has begun a major campaign to vaccinate thousands of women against tetanus in Mali in an attempt to halt the passing of the disease to newborn babies.

Unicef plans to vaccinate 118,000 women of child-bearing age in Mali

The organisation said that last year tetanus killed 30,000 women in developing countries across the world and also claimed the lives of thousands of infants.

The immunisation programme will promote hygienic birth practices and will use simple syringes which lay people can be trained to use.

Although neo-natal tetanus was eliminated in the industrialised world as far back as the 1950s, the disease is still a major killer of infants and women in the developing world.

Single dose

Every year, at least 200,000 babies die from tetanus; up to 70% of them who contract the illness die in the first month of life.

The disease develops as a result of unhygienic birth practices, leading to contamination of the umbilical cord with tetanus spores when it is being cut or dressed after delivery.

This week in Mali, Unicef aims to vaccinate 118,000 women of child-bearing age, many of whom are in remote and poor areas.

The immunisations will be implemented by a single dose in a small syringe that Unicef personnel can teach non-medical staff such as teachers and social workers to administer.

Two private pharmaceutical companies - Becton, Dickinson and Company and Bio Farma - are also supporting the project by jointly donating nine million units of the vaccine in an attempt to wipe out tetanus for good.