VOA慢速英语2015 研究发现女性更喜欢女性卫生工作者

Study: Women Prefer to Go to Female¹ Health Workers 研究发现女性更喜欢女性卫生工作者

Researchers recently completed a study of a new method of giving health care to women in Northern Nigeria. They found women and children would use health services more often when they could see a female health worker.

Northern Nigeria is conservative² area with a population that is mostly Muslim. Dr. Sally Findley is a professor at Columbia University Medical Center. She co-wrote the report on the study. She said it is unusual for women to work as health care providers there.

“Most women are not expected to be living on their own, providing health care essentially³ 24/7, or riding around meeting with families in the scattered⁴ hamlets.”

Nigeria has one of the world’s highest death rates of women connected with pregnancy⁵ and childbirth. This is called the “maternal⁶ death” rate. The worst rate of maternal death in Nigeria is in the northern region⁷.

Male health workers do travel from town to town, but many women patients do not want to talk with a man about their own health care needs.

Dr. Findley said the trial study in Jigawa state required that many in the community be involved. It also needed support from religious leaders, even on such matters as transportation for the workers.

“We had to get permission from the state imam, the leader of all the Muslims in Jigawa, to have these female friendly motorcycles, and give permission for them to use them.”

The program brought women into northern Nigeria as Community Health Extension⁸ Workers. It seems they were a big success in their community. There were five times more visits to the health center after the women health workers arrived than before. Dr. Finley said the program changed the minds of the women taking part.

“In fact, they did like this, and it did change their understanding of what they could get if they went to the facility for care.”

The women of northern Nigeria could get health care at all hours in the local clinic. Mothers got help from women when they had normal births. If a mother giving birth needed more help, the Community Health Extension Workers sent her to a hospital. They also gave advice on family planning.

Each clinic had two health workers. That way, one could go out on home visits while the other was available to provide services in the clinic.

State officials in Jigawa were happy with the positive results of the study. They plan to expand the program of women community health workers.

The paper that describes the program by Sally Findley and her co-authors is published in the journal⁹ Global Health: Science and Practice.

Words in This Story

maternal - adj. of or relating to a woman who is having a baby

facility - n. something (such as a building or large piece of equipment) that is built for a specific purpose

clinic - n. a place where people get medical help

positive -  adj. good or useful

1 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。

2 conservative   

adj.保守的，守旧的；n.保守的人，保守派

参考例句：

• He is a conservative member of the church.他是一个守旧教会教友。
• The young man is very conservative.这个年轻人很守旧。

3 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

4 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

5 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

6 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

7 region   

n.地区，地带，区域；范围，幅度

参考例句：

• The students went to study the geology of that region.学生们去研究那个地区的地质情况。
• It is unusual to see snow in this region.这个地区难得见到雪。

8 extension   

n.伸长，扩大，伸展；延长，延期；延长部分，扩大部分；电话分机

参考例句：

• The pupils disliked the extension of the term.小学生们不愿延长学期。
• Our extension is nearly finished.我们的扩建部分已接近完工。

9 journal   

n.日志，日记；议事录；日记帐；杂志，定期刊物

参考例句：

• He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
• He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。