VOA常速英语2007-Humanitarian Group Appeals for Support of Ready-

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
10 October 2007

The international humanitarian¹ organization Doctors Without Borders says it is launching a worldwide appeal aimed at getting donors² and governments to support a campaign to provide ready-to-use food to malnourished children. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

Every year, more than five million children under age five die of nutrition-related causes. Doctors Without Borders says these annual deaths could be reduced by giving malnourished children ready-to-use food containing vitamins and essential nutrients³.

It says this approach is far more effective and practical than the traditional method, which uses fortified⁴ blended flour and requires that severely⁵ malnourished children be fed under close supervision⁶ at a feeding center.

Executive Director of the Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, Tido von Schoen-Angerer, tells VOA the new approach requires no preparation and allows the mother to keep the child at home.

"You can store it easily. It is not heat-sensitive. You do not need to cook or add water. The child can just eat it directly and it is tasty," he said. "For the severely malnourished children, normally we would need to hospitalize all of them and that is not any longer necessary. So, the woman can take it home. It has enormous advantages in places where there is conflict, but it is of benefit everywhere and it really allows even when you do not have enough medical staff and bring it to the homes of people."

Dr. Schoen-Angerer says ready-to-use food is practical in non-secure places like Somalia. He says it is a very effective way to treat malnourished children caught in a dangerous, difficult situation.

The world's so-called malnutrition⁷ hotspots are found in large areas of the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and South Asia.

The World Health Organization estimates 20 million young children are suffering from acute malnutrition at any given moment. Doctors Without Borders estimates only three percent of these children will receive ready-to-use food in 2007.

Dr. Schoen-Angerer says Doctors Without Borders has a pilot project in Niger, which shows that giving mildly malnourished children ready-to-use food at an early stage can prevent them from becoming acutely malnourished.

"What we are doing in Niger this year is that we are giving supplements with this kind of food where the child has to take three teaspoons⁸ a day to give it to all the children under three during that particular hunger season," he added. "And, what we already saw last year is by expanding this ready-to-use food, we were ready to prevent the severe malnutrition. So, we really see this as working and we need others to do the same."

Doctors Without Borders has been treating malnutrition with therapeutic⁹ ready-to-use food since the late 1990s. But, Dr. Schoen-Angerer says it was only this June that U.N. agencies were finally persuaded of its effectiveness.

 

He says the aim of the global campaign is to persuade international donors to provide the money needed to support the program.

1 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

2 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》

3 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 fortified   

adj. 加强的

参考例句：

• He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
• The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。

5 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

6 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

7 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

8 teaspoons   

n.茶匙( teaspoon的名词复数 )；一茶匙的量

参考例句：

• Add two teaspoons of salt. 加两小匙盐。
• Add 3 heaped teaspoons of sugar. 加满满的三匙糖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 therapeutic   

adj.治疗的，起治疗作用的；对身心健康有益的

参考例句：

• Therapeutic measures were selected to fit the patient.选择治疗措施以适应病人的需要。
• When I was sad,music had a therapeutic effect.我悲伤的时候，音乐有治疗效力。