2006年VOA标准英语-Burundi Tackles Malaria Using New Drug Tre

By Cathy Majtenyi
Bujumbura
25 April 2006

Africa Malaria¹ Day, which falls on April 25, in part commemorates² the many African countries offering a new drug treatment to fight the scourge³ of widespread malaria, the number-one killer⁴ of African children ages five and under. The tiny central African nation of Burundi was the first country on the continent to embrace the new drug and is starting to see its positive effects.

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Yvette Hakizimana and her 11-month-old son Edmund wait to receive ACTs, to cure Edmund's malaria at the Kigobe Health Centre in Bujumbura  
  

Yvette Hakizimana cradles her 11-month-old son Edmund while waiting for a nurse at the Kigobe Health Center in Burundi's picturesque⁵ capital Bujumbura.

The mother of three is about to have her feverish⁶ son tested for malaria, a disease that her other two children have had.

But thanks to artemisinine-based combination therapy, a new drug treatment commonly known as ACTs, Hakizimana is confident that her son will be cured quickly and effectively.

Hakizimana's other son was prescribed ACTs last month to cure malaria. She describes the treatment to VOA.

Hakizimana says the nurse gave her son two pills at one o'clock in the afternoon and instructed her to give her child the pills at the same time for three days. She says she and her neighbors think ACTs are good drugs and will keep them all safe from the scourge of malaria.

Malaria is caused by a parasite⁷ that enters the body through a mosquito bite. The disease, symptoms of which include fever, muscle aches, and headaches, is the leading cause of death among children five years and under in Burundi and across Africa.

Up to two million of Burundi's seven million people fall sick each year from malaria. Health officials estimate 80 percent of the country's people are at risk of getting the disease.

In the past, drugs called chloroquin and fansidar were used to treat malaria, but the malaria parasite developed resistance to these drugs.

 
Mother and her baby wait for treatment for the baby's severe malaria at Cibitoke Hospital near Burundi's capital Bujumbura 
  
Researchers in Asia developed artemisinine-based combination therapy using a plant extract and another ingredient. In 2001, the World Health Organization recommended that countries having resistance to malaria drugs switch over to the ACT drug regime.

Burundi was the first African country to do so. By the end of 2003, ACTs were available to patients in hospitals and clinics across the country.

At the Kigobe Health Center, nurse Phinees Ntakiyiruta and his colleagues dispense⁸ about 80 ACT treatments each week.

He says he observes that almost all patients on ACTs are cured of malaria, whereas fansidar and other older drugs have a much lower success rate. He notes that malaria deaths among the clinic's patients have decreased from about two per month to zero and says cases of severe malaria have also decreased from about 10 cases per week to two per month.

"The difference is that when they take ACT, around 98 percent are treated by these medicines," he said. "But before, it was around 70 percent by fansidar, by chloroquin. So, with this new medicine, I did not see anyone who died here with malaria."

London-based malaria activist⁹ Louis da Gama says he is pleased overall with Burundi's anti-malaria program. But he says he is concerned that in a country where almost 90 percent of people live on less than $2 a day, the government is charging patients the equivalent of 30 cents for ACT consultation¹⁰ and treatment.

"Any sense of having to pay for treatment will act as an impediment to a rapid seeking of that treatment," said da Gama. "We should remove all charges to people in terms of accessing malaria drugs because malaria is the biggest killer of children, pregnant women, and people in general in Burundi."

Da Gama notes that the Burundi government does not charge patients for drugs to treat AIDS and tuberculosis¹¹, and says it is unfair that it charge for ACTs.

Burundi's Health Minister Barnabe Mbonimpa (l) consults with Dr. Baza Dismas (r), the manager of Burundi's malaria program under the Ministry¹² of Health  
  
Burundi's health minister Barnabe Mbonimpa says the malaria program is still very new, unlike the drug programs for AIDS and tuberculosis, and that people pay a very small price for ACTs.

He says when there is a malaria epidemic¹³, the patients are treated free of charge. He says if the government receives enough subsidies¹⁴, it will be able to offer the malaria drugs for free as is the case for AIDS and tuberculosis.

The Burundi government purchases ACTs from a generic¹⁵ drug company in India with money from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an initiative created by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that dispenses¹⁶ funds to countries worldwide to fight the three diseases.

Burundi has received more that $17 million from the Global Fund since 2003 to buy drugs and mosquito bed nets, train health care workers, purchase equipment, and take other measures to combat malaria in the country.

The Global Fund is meeting this week to determine the next round of funding for malaria and other programs in Burundi and elsewhere.

Activist da Gama urges Global Fund donors¹⁷ to maintain or increase its funding to Burundi's malaria program, especially since the country has just come out of a decade-long civil war and ACTs and bed nets are proving to be so effective.

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 commemorates   

n.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的名词复数 )v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A tombstone is erected in memory of whoever it commemorates. 墓碑是为纪念它所纪念的人而建的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A tablet commemorates his patriotic activities. 碑文铭记他的爱国行动。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 scourge   

n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏

参考例句：

• Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
• The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后，不称职的人就遭殃了。

4 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。

5 picturesque   

adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的

参考例句：

• You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
• That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。

6 feverish   

adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的

参考例句：

• He is too feverish to rest.他兴奋得安静不下来。
• They worked with feverish haste to finish the job.为了完成此事他们以狂热的速度工作着。

7 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

8 dispense   

vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施

参考例句：

• Let us dispense the food.咱们来分发这食物。
• The charity has been given a large sum of money to dispense as it sees fit.这个慈善机构获得一大笔钱，可自行适当分配。

9 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

10 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

11 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

12 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

13 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

14 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

16 dispenses   

v.分配，分与；分配( dispense的第三人称单数 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• The machine dispenses a range of drinks and snacks. 这台机器发售各种饮料和小吃。
• This machine dispenses coffee. 这台机器发售咖啡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》