Substantial progress in maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination has been made in the past 40 years, with dramatic reductions in neonatal tetanus incidence and mortality. However, twelve countries have still not achieved maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination, and many countries that have achieved elimination do not meet key sustainability thresholds to ensure long-lasting elimination. As maternal and neonatal tetanus is a vaccine-preventable disease (with coverage of the infant conferred by maternal immunization during and prior to pregnancy), maternal tetanus immunization coverage is a key metric for monitoring progress towards, equity in, and sustainability of tetanus elimination. In this study, we examine inequalities in tetanus protection at birth, a measure of maternal immunization coverage, across 76 countries and four dimensions of inequality via disaggregated data and summary measures of inequality. We find that substantial inequalities in coverage exist for wealth (with lower coverage among poorer wealth quintiles), maternal age (with lower coverage among younger mothers), maternal education (with lower coverage among less educated mothers), and place of residence (with lower coverage in rural areas). Inequalities existed for all dimensions across low- and lower-middle-income countries, and across maternal education and place of residence across upper-middle-income countries. Though global coverage changed little over the time period 2001-2020, this obscured substantial heterogeneity across countries. Notably, several countries had substantial increases in coverage accompanied by decreases in inequality, highlighting the need for equity considerations in maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination and sustainability efforts.
Keywords: health disparities; immunization; inequality; maternal and neonatal tetanus; vaccination.