2006年VOA标准英语-Child Immunization Campaign Under Way in Ghana

By Efam Dovi
Accra
01 November 2006

In Ghana, more than five million children are being targeted for vaccination¹ against measles² and other diseases. The mass immunization campaign is under way at 95,00 vaccination centers.

 

More than 38,000 health workers and volunteers have started administering vaccines⁴ against measles and other diseases to children five years and younger throughout Ghana.

During the next five days, six million children will receive oral doses of polio vaccine³, and five million of them will be vaccinated⁵ against measles. Vitamin A also will be administered.

 

As part of the Integrated Child Health Campaign, the U.N. Children's Fund will distribute more than two million insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets to children under two to prevent the spread of malaria⁶, a major killer⁷ of children in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Dr. K.O. Antwi-Adjei is the national program manger for the Expanded Program on Immunization. He says the campaign offers another opportunity to ensure that every child gets vaccinated against measles.

 

"This time we are offering the second opportunity for those who were missed, those who were below nine months at that time," he said,  "and all those who have been born during the past four years, who would have gone through the routine, a single dose of the routine, which we consider, or scientifically has been proven not to be enough to reduce child death and child illness from measles drastically."

 

No child has died of measles in Ghana since 2002, and reported cases of the disease have also reduced from 12,000 in the same year, to below 500. The West African nation has also not recorded any case of polio, since a major outbreak in 2003.

 

Dr. Antwi-Adjei attributes the development to mass vaccination programs in 2004 and 2005.

 

"We found the campaign to work better for us, may be till our system is robust⁸ enough to offer a second opportunity through a second dose in the routine. So every four years we do a campaign for the measles, but for the polio it is also supplemental, its additional, because about 73 percent of those vaccinated again will get the necessary immunity⁹, 27 percent will not develop the full immunity, but it is difficult to know by sight those without the immunity," he said.

 

The project, estimated at $18 million, has received substantial support from partners including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Health Organization, Rotary¹⁰ International, and the Japanese government. It costs about $3 to immunize each child.

 

Malaria and measles rank among the five leading killer diseases of children in sub-Saharan Africa. Measles mostly affects young children. Health experts say children usually do not die directly of the disease, but from its complications, which attack their immune systems.

1 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

2 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

5 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

6 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。

7 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

8 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

9 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

10 rotary   

adj.(运动等)旋转的；轮转的；转动的

参考例句：

• The central unit is a rotary drum.核心设备是一个旋转的滚筒。
• A rotary table helps to optimize the beam incidence angle.一张旋转的桌子有助于将光线影响之方式角最佳化。