2006年VOA标准英语-Effort Underway to Get Cervical Cancer Vaccine

By Carol Pearson
Washington, DC
19 June 2006
 
watch Cervical Cancer report

Cervical cancer vaccine¹   
  
A couple of weeks ago, the world's first vaccine against a cancer that affects women was hailed as a medical breakthrough. Non-profit agencies and a billionaire philanthropist are now trying to ensure that women in developing countries will also have access to the vaccine.

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Earlier this month the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first vaccine that can protect women from the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which causes most types of cervical cancer.

 
Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announces the approval of Gardasil at HHS headquarters in Washington 
  
Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Alex Azar made the announcement. "We can now include the worst types of HPV and most cervical cancer in the list of diseases that no one need suffer or die from ever again."

Except that women will continue to suffer and die from cervical cancer unless they get the vaccine before they become sexually active. 

The vaccine -- Gardisil -- has proven to be 100 percent effective in clinical trials involving women around the world. But the vaccine is expensive.  And it is needed the most in developing countries where women are less likely to be screened for cervical cancer.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has initiated² a five-year drive to get this vaccine to women in poor countries. 

Dr. Regina Rabinovich  
  
Dr. Regina Rabinovich, the director of infectious diseases at the Gates Foundation, provides statistics. "We know that at least 270, 000 women die every year due to cervical cancer.  We also know that this is probably a significant undercount because many women die without any diagnosis³, particularly in the poorest areas of the world." 

The Gates Foundation has granted nearly $28 million for research in four countries:  India, Peru, Uganda and Vietnam. Dr. Rabinovich says the programs will work with the ministries⁴ of health in each of these countries to find the best way to educate the public and distribute the vaccine.

She says that at the end of five years health officials and health care providers will have a wealth of information about how to help protect women in poor countries from this disease. "I think we're going to have experiences, learning and teaching materials in four countries as to what worked, what didn't, what did the countries care about,” she asks.  “Was it able to be utilized⁵?  What did the families think, and that can be compiled into where countries want to use it."

Health experts say the vaccine may prove to be the best hope for lowering the death toll⁶ from cervical cancer and could even make the numbers of women who get cervical cancer in developing countries as low as the number of women who get it in the developed world.

1 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。

2 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

3 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

4 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

5 utilized   

v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In the19th century waterpower was widely utilized to generate electricity. 在19世纪人们大规模使用水力来发电。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The empty building can be utilized for city storage. 可以利用那栋空建筑物作城市的仓库。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。