2006年VOA标准英语-World Bank: Developing Countries Need More

By Deborah Block
Washington, DC
02 June 2006
 
watch Cost Heath Care report

A new report by the World Bank warns that the sharply rising cost of health care is creating a burden on third world countries struggling to cope with epidemics¹ such as AIDS and, possibly, bird flu.  It says while donor² nations should substantially increase aid for health programs to developing countries, third world governments must make health care spending a higher priority. 

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The World Bank report says thousands of people are dying each day from curable diseases such as tuberculosis³, despite major increases in health care aid for the developing world.  The study says three million people worldwide died from AIDS last year, many in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Public health expert Ramanan Laxminarayan is with the private research group Resources for the Future in Washington.  He says it is not necessarily the amount of money spent on health care that is important, but how it is used. 

Ramanan Laxminarayan   
  
"It's possible to do something about malaria⁴, for instance, in sub-Saharan Africa, if the world would spend money on effective anti-malarial drugs. It's possible to spend a lot of good money on proven programs for preventing AIDS.  So there are interventions⁵ that exist on which not enough money is being spent which can make a big impact."

The report says an enormous health gap continues between rich and poor countries, partly because high income nations spend about 100 times more money on health care per person than low income countries.  It says since most people in developing countries have to pay for health care themselves, donor nations should work with third world governments to develop national health programs that provide adequate health care.  Laxminarayan says often donor nations are determining health care priorities, instead of governments, and that should change.

  
  
"And having a single, unified⁶ picture on what the country wants for its health, would actually be a good way on focusing resources on its priorities. Have countries create their own plans and then for donors⁷ spend on entire programs or an entire sector⁸, so the priorities of governments are not distorted because of what the donor wants to do."

The study says populations in 50 of the world's poorest countries will double by 2050.  And this means much greater increases in health care funding will be needed -  52 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, 47 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, 45 percent in South Asia, and 37 percent in East Asia and the Pacific.   Laxminarayan says third world nations need to make health care a top priority now.

  
  
"A lot of money can come from countries actually spending money on health rather than other things they may be spending money on, just by recognizing that spending money on health is one of the best routes to economic development and that countries don't necessarily don't have to wait to get rich before they get healthy, they can get healthy as a way of getting rich."

The report says most increases in health care aid have been in Africa for specific diseases such as AIDS.  While that may be helpful in the short term, it says, what is needed for the long haul are viable health systems

1 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

2 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

3 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。

4 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。

5 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

6 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

7 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》

8 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。