2007年VOA标准英语-Five Nations Launch Vaccination Program for Poo

By Sabina Castelfranco
Rome
09 February 2007

Five nations held a ceremony in Rome Friday to launch a $1.5 billion vaccine¹ program to save the lives of millions of children in poor nations. Pope Benedict XVI praised the initiative and encouraged the international community in the search and production of new vaccines². For VOA, Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome.

The first global project for the development of vaccines against endemic diseases is known as AMC (Advanced Market Commitments) for Vaccines. The aim is to ensure there is secure funding for the development of vaccines urgently needed in the poorest countries in the hope of saving the lives of more than five million children by the year 2030.

Italian Economy and Finance Minister Tommaso Padoa Schioppa opened the project's ceremony in Rome.

"Ten million people die each year from infectious diseases, mostly children in developing countries," he said.  "This is also an economic disaster, an appalling³ obstacle in the path to development."

With funding from Italy, Canada, Norway, Russia and Britain, the plan targets pneumococcal disease, a major cause of pneumonia⁴ and meningitis, which kills 1.6 million people every year.

Pope Benedict XVI, who met with finance ministers from participating nations, praised the goal of developing vaccines, saying these are urgently needed to prevent millions of people, including countless⁵ children, from dying each year from infectious diseases.

Queen Rania of Jordan attended the ceremony. She said the project would give hope to poor families.

Queen Rania of Jordan speaks during a ceremony for the launch of the "Advance Market Commitments" vaccine program

"Today a baby born in Sierra Leone is over 50 times more likely to die before its fifth birthday than a child born in Italy and more than a 100 times more likely to die than a child born in Iceland or Singapore," she noted⁶.  "One quarter of our children still have no protection from common preventable disease."

Italy's economy and finance minister, Padoa Schioppa, says the global project is necessary because drug companies rarely focus their efforts on medications that specifically treat the diseases of the poor.

"Investment to develop these vaccines is insufficient⁷ because pharmaceutical⁸ companies find little incentive⁹ to invest in research and development of products that would mostly benefit poor countries, which may not have the money to buy them," he noted.

But now with this initiative, he says, donors¹⁰ can overcome this problem. With an advance market commitment, donors commit to buy vaccines if and when they are discovered.

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz says bank has given its support to the project.

"Uncertainty¹² about demand has limited investment and in turn limited supply has kept prices high," he explained.  "On average, vaccines take 15-20 years to get to the poor at an affordable¹³ price. The AMC breaks that vicious circle which has kept [prevented] vaccines from saving lives in developing countries."

Wolfowitz adds that the legally binding¹⁴ donor¹¹ commitment will subsidize the purchases of vaccines.  And when the product meets international standards companies will been encouraged to invest.

But, he adds, developing vaccines is only half the story. If this initiative is to succeed, he says, it is necessary to ensure these vaccines reach patients, they are administered effectively and the results of the treatment are monitored. The international community, he says, must also help developing countries strengthen their health systems to give people wider access to health services.

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 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。

3 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

4 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

5 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

8 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

9 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

10 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》

11 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。

12 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

13 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

14 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。