This study aimed to understand the representations on the means of preventing neonatal tetanus, based on the discourse of 19 mothers of children who died of this disease in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, highlighting care for the umbilical cord stump. Secondary data, taken from the Pregnant Woman's Card and the Notification Cards, were used to acquire a better understanding of the interviewees' discourse. A quantitative and qualitative methodology was adopted, focusing on the social representations about the disease experience. The interviews were analyzed on the basis of the "collective subject discourse" instrument. The mothers' discourse revealed the presence of popular beliefs in care related to the umbilical cord stump and the services' deficiencies in the health education process. There is an urgent need to program strategic efforts aimed at the training of midwives and health professionals, as well as to increase prenatal services and expand vaccination coverage, mainly in the research cases' regions of origin, thus contributing to the elimination of this disease.
Vaccination; Prenatal care; Tetanus; Newborn infant; Risk factors