VOA慢速英语2021--世卫组织称新冠肺炎疫情加重全球疟疾负担

WHO Says COVID Crisis Hurt Efforts to Fight Malaria¹

The World Health Organization, or WHO, says the COVID-19 crisis has interfered² with efforts to control the disease of malaria. Insects called mosquitoes spread the dangerous sickness when they bite people.

The U.N. health agency released its yearly World Malaria Report on Monday.

It says there were 241 million cases of the disease in 2020, an increase of 14 million from 2019. The WHO says 627,000 people died from malaria in 2020, almost 70,000 more than the year before.

Around 65 percent of the additional deaths, about 47,000, were linked to COVID-related "disruptions" in medical supplies. Around 95 percent of all malaria cases and deaths in 2020 were in African countries south of the Sahara desert.

The WHO noted³ that the malarial⁴ situation last year did not get as bad as the agency had thought it might. Some predictive models had shown malaria deaths rising by 100 percent in 2020.

"The first message, in many ways is a good news message," said Pedro Alonso, Director of the WHO Global Malaria Program. The "doomsday scenario⁵ has not materialized," he added, praising the work of affected⁶ countries and their partners as the reason.

But the 2021 Global Malaria Report still warns that progress against malaria has slowed in recent years. Around 25 countries have shown increases in deaths related to malaria since 2015.

In the 11 hardest-hit countries, yearly cases of malaria grew by 13 million to 163 million between 2015 and 2020. The WHO said deaths rose more than 54,000 to nearly 445,000 each year as of last year.

Alonso said the world is "not on a trajectory⁷ to success," in the malaria fight right now. And, he added, "How things will evolve over the coming weeks and months I wouldn't dare to say at this point."

Words in This Story

disrupt – v. to cause (something) to be unable to continue in the normal way: to interrupt the normal progress or activity of (something)

scenario – n. a description of what could possibly happen

doomsday – n. the day the world ends or is destroyed

trajectory – n. a process of change or development that leads toward a particular result

1 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

2 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 malarial   

患疟疾的，毒气的

参考例句：

• Malarial poison had sallowed his skin. 疟疾病毒使他皮肤成灰黄色。
• Standing water like this gives malarial mosquitoes the perfect place to breed. 像这样的死水给了传染疟疾的蚊子绝佳的繁殖地点。

5 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。