2007年VOA标准英语-Ghana Fights Economic Impact of Malaria

By Efam Dovi
Accra
25 April 2007

Progress has been made in reducing malaria¹ cases in Ghana, but the disease continues to be a primary health concern in the country as well as an economic burden.  As the West African nation joins the rest of the continent to mark Africa Malaria Day, Ghana's health authorities are looking at new ways to fight the disease.  Efam Dovi has more from Ghana's capital, Accra.

This is Iran Clinic in Accra, one of the few private health institutions that treat patients under the Ghana government's recently introduced national health insurance plan.

Humu is receiving IV fluid to help treat a Malaria infection at Iran Clinic in Accra

Men, women and children are seated in line waiting to see a doctor.  Humu is a trader.

She says she has been ill for the past two weeks. 

She says her heart beats fast when she walks and she feels dizzy. 

She says she has body pains and fever.  Humu says she could not sleep the previous night, so today she came in to see the doctor.  She says she has been given some drugs and she is to be administered with IV fluid.
     
A senior medical officer at the clinic, Zakaria Adam Abubakar, diagnosed Humu with malaria.  He says about 75 percent of the patients who report to the clinic suffer from malaria, especially during the rainy season.  That is above the national average of about 40 percent of all hospital attendance.

Abubakar says malaria is diagnosed both clinically and through laboratory examination.

"From our experience and malaria being endemic in Ghana and, for that matter, the West African sub-region, when somebody comes with malaria he comes with chills, feeling cold, sweat," he said.  "He is feeling cold with rigor² but the temperature is very, very high and then also we have bitterness of the month and also lost of appetite and headache."
     
Ghanaian health officials say the number of malaria cases has gone down in the last three years.
     
They credit the World Health Organization's (WHO) certified³ combination-drug therapy, which now replaces ineffective single drug treatment.  They also cite other interventions⁴, such as increased use of insecticide-treated mosquito-bed nets.
     
But the disease continues to be a major health problem.  It is blamed for low productivity and costs the government about $88 per case.
     
"For somebody to be in the house for a week or sometimes to two weeks, you can imagine the economic impact, absenteeism from work and then excuse duties," added Mr. Abubakar.

Malaria is said to affect about 3 million people in the country's workforce⁵.  Aba Baffoe-Wilmot is deputy head of Ghana's National Malaria Control program.

"The impact on the workforce, itself, and the families of the workers, if a worker, a man going to work and the family is not well, of course this person is not going to work with a clear mind," she noted⁶.

Officials of the program recently met with business leaders, urging them to support the fight against malaria, because of the burden the disease imposes on their businesses. 
     
Baffoe-Wilmot says businesses can help by subsidizing insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets for their workers; by supporting indoor residual⁷ spraying programs to stop the breeding of the mosquito that causes the disease; as well as carrying out malaria control activities for their workers and dependents.
     
In a world economic forum⁸ survey, 72 percent of business leaders believed malaria eradication⁹ would increase efficiency and production.

Syvester Mensah participated in the meeting and says it makes economic sense for everyone to play a role in eradicating¹⁰ malaria.

"Oh yes, it does, not only corporate¹¹ bodies but individuals, households, everyone walking the streets of Ghana has a role to play, has a contribution to make in order to eradicate¹² malaria if possible, and I think that I share in that wisdom," he said.

Baffoe-Wilmot also talked about other strategies being adopted to scale up the "Roll Back Malaria" program in Ghana, which is substantially supported by the Global Fund.
     
"When it comes to the integrated control, we are, in addition to the bed net, looking at the environment - environmental management," she explained.  "We will also be looking at spraying, we will look at IRS, [indoor residual spraying] we will also look at larviciding. At least if we will not be able to clear, let us say, a place which is breeding the mosquito, we can always use larvicides to suppress the development of the mosquitoes."

Malaria thrives in hot temperatures that enable the parasite¹³ that causes the disease to mature more quickly in the bodies of the mosquitoes that carry it.  The disease yearly cost the African continent about $12 billion in economic losses.

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 rigor   

n.严酷，严格，严厉

参考例句：

• Their analysis lacks rigor.他们的分析缺乏严谨性。||The crime will be treated with the full rigor of the law.这一罪行会严格依法审理。

3 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

4 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

5 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

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 residual   

adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的

参考例句：

• There are still a few residual problems with the computer program.电脑程序还有一些残留问题。
• The resulting residual chromatism is known as secondary spectrum.所得到的剩余色差叫做二次光谱。

8 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

9 eradication   

n.根除

参考例句：

• The eradication of an established infestation is not easy. 根除昆虫蔓延是不容易的。
• This is often required for intelligent control and eradication. 这经常需要灵巧的控制与消除。

10 eradicating   

摧毁，完全根除( eradicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Objective: To study the acute and chronic toxicity of Ten-flavor-acne eradicating-capsule. 目的：探讨复方中药合剂十味平痤胶囊的急性及慢性毒性。
• We are on the verge of eradicating polio in the world. 我们已在世界消除小儿？痹症的边缘了。

11 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

12 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

13 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。