VOA慢速英语2010年-Development Report - In Developing Wor

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Sending and receiving money by text message. Sharing crop prices. Just talking to a loved one far from home. These are some of the ways that mobile phones have changed lives in developing countries. Another way is through e-health, electronic health services.

One example is a telephone hotline in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Callers can receive information about family planning and the prevention of unwanted pregnancies¹. They are able to speak privately² with trained operators about contraceptive methods and about health clinics.

The nonprofit group Population Services International and its partner Association de Sante Familiale launched the service in two thousand five. The United States Agency for International Development finances³ the program. And an agreement with the Vodacom company makes the service free to callers.

We talked with Jamaica Corker, on her cell phone, at the Population Services International office in the D.R.C.

JAMAICA CORKER: "The hotline has given us an opportunity to take advantage of cell phone technology, to reach people outside of our intervention⁴ zone with family planning messaging. In a country the size of western Europe, we can't be everywhere at the same time, and the hotline allows them to call in no matter where they are and to ask us the information that we can provide -- even if we're not necessarily able to provide the services directly."

Micheline Kapinga makes a call on a cell phone in the village of Kamponde in central Congo

Jamaica Corker says more than twenty thousand people called the hotline in two thousand eight, the latest year available. More than eighty percent were men. She says this is mainly because men own most of the phones.

The group also has family planning hotlines in Benin and Pakistan. And it is launching a mobile phone program to gather records on condom sales around Tanzania.

The journal Health Affairs recently published an issue on "E-Health in the Developing World." Editor Susan Dentzer says e-health is improving lives in different ways.

SUSAN DENTZER: "For example in Rwanda, where cell phone-based technologies are being used to keep track of dispensation of drugs to patients with H.I.V. And Rwanda is actually at the leading edge of developing nations in tapping these technologies to advance health and health care."

In South Africa, a campaign of text messages about H.I.V. led to a large increase in calls to the national AIDS helpline. And a program in Peru sends text messages to patients with H.I.V., reminding them to take their medicines.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. Tell us about e-health services where you are. You can share ideas and find our programs at voaspecialenglish.com and on Facebook at VOA Learning English. That's also our address on Twitter, YouTube and iTunes. I'm Steve Ember.
 

1 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

2 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

3 finances   

n.(pl.)财源，资产

参考例句：

• I need a professional to sort out my finances. 我需要专业人士为我管理财务。
• The company's finances are looking a bIt'shaky. 这个公司的财政情况看来有点不稳定。

4 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。