VOA常速英语2014--美国国际开发署努力降低儿童和孕妇死亡率（在线收听）

USAID Unveils New Efforts to Reduce Child and Maternal Deaths 美国国际开发署努力降低儿童和孕妇死亡率

WASHINGTON —

The head of the  U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Rajiv Shah, says that every day this year 18,000 more children will live and 700 more mothers will survive compared to the daily maternal and child mortality rate in 1990.  Shah's agency will host a forum Wednesday in collaboration with governments of India, Ethiopia and other partners to mark the second anniversary of the Child and Maternal Survival Call to Action.  USAID will spend up to $2.9 billion of the agency’s resources to continue the fight for maternal and child health in 24 countries.

华盛顿 — 美国国际开发署署长拉吉夫·沙阿表示，与1990年相比，今年每天的儿童和孕妇死亡人数都会分别减少一万八千人和七百人。星期三，国际开发署和印度、埃塞俄比亚政府和其他合作伙伴一起，举办纪念“行动起来拯救儿童”两周年的活动。美国国际开发署将投入29亿美元来继续帮助24个国家改善孕妇和儿童健康。

While child deaths have dropped from 12.6 million in 1990 to 6.6 million in 2012, 16,000 children and 800 mothers are dying every day, says the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

美国国际开发署的统计数据显示，虽然儿童夭折人数从1990年的1260万下降到2012年的660万，但每天仍有一万六千名儿童和800名母亲丧生。

"The goal of ending preventable child and maternal death is within reach. Two years ago, USAID partnered with organizations around the world to help achieve this goal." says administrator Rajiv Shah.

然而，署长沙阿说：“消除可防预的儿童和孕妇死亡的目标是可以实现的。两年前，美国国际开发署与世界各地的组织为了实现这一目标开始合作。”

"After the Call to Action, 176 countries signed a pledge to make this a priority, report on the outcomes using report cards and quantitative measures of ‘Are we delivering success,’" 

"And on Wednesday I will announce America’s commitment to that Call to Action in which we will be repositioning nearly $3 billion of investment to save an additional 500,000 child lives between now and the end of 2015," he added.

她还说：“已经有176个国家签署了以此作为工作重点的承诺……从现在起到2015年底，我们会重新分配近30亿美元的资金，以便在2015年年底以前再拯救50万儿童的生命。”

USAID also plans $650 million in partnership awards with nearly two dozen companies to help distribute life saving drugs like amoxicillin to 5,500 rural villages.

同时，美国国际开发署计划出资6亿5千万美元与20多家公司合作，通过它们在5500个村子发放阿莫西林之类的救命药品。

In 2015, the U.N. Millennium Development goals and its targets, including improving child and maternal health, will expire.

2015年，包括提升儿童和孕妇健康的联合国千年发展目标即将到期。

 "We are working with a number of partners to identify what those issue areas are and then bringing in those strategic assets that each organization can help," explained Anita Sharma, with the U.N. program called Every Woman Every Child. "We will not be there in 2015, but we certainly know... the unfinished agenda of the MDG’s will continue far beyond 2015."

阿妮塔. 莎玛是联合国“每个妇女每个孩子”项目的工作人员。她通过Skype对美国之音说：“我们正与许多合作伙伴一起确定有问题的地区，然后把每个组织能提供的战略资产分配到这些地区。到2015年时，我们不会完成所有的计划，但我们肯定，千年发展目标未完成的计划会在2015年之后持续下去。”

Despite the resurgence of conflicts in some areas, both Sharma and Shah say progress is being made.

尽管在一些地区冲突再起，莎玛和沙阿都认为他们的工作有成效。

"We are helping to train health community workers so that they know how to help women and children gain access to medicines when they need them," said Shah. "We are helping to distribute misoprostol, which helps to prevent post-partum or post-birth bleeding amongst women - that is still the number one cause of maternal death in South Sudan."

署长沙阿说：“我们培训社区健康工作人员，这样他们就知道如何帮助妇女和儿童在他们需要的时候获得药品。我们还帮助发放米索前列醇，这是一种预防产后出血的药。在南苏丹，这仍是导致产妇死亡的首要病因。”

Sharma says money is one of the challenges, but the political will to prioritize health is also needed.  USAID Director Shah points to India as a good example.

莎玛说，资金虽然是挑战之一，但是将健康问题置于优先考虑的政治意愿同样重要。

"They have focused their efforts on ending child death in 132 districts that have the highest rates of under-five child mortality," he said. "They have moved resources from middle-income communities to poor communities in order to protect and save more children."

These new efforts to save an unprecedented number of women and children by USAID and its partners take center stage this week in Washington.