VOA标准英语2008年-Report Says Basic Medical Care Could Save Lives

By Douglas Bakshian
Manila
06 May 2008

A new report says the lives of millions of young children could be saved each year if basic medical care and medicine are made available to the poor. Douglas Bakshian has more from Manila.

The report by the U.S. organization Save the Children says about 10 million children die every year from easily preventable and treatable diseases. About six million of those could be saved with basic services.

Those services include immunizations, antibiotics¹, skilled care at childbirth and treatment for diarrhea and pneumonia².

The report says that more than 200 million children under age five lack basic health care. Of the 55 developing nations evaluated, the Philippines, Peru, South Africa, Indonesia and Turkmenistan do the best job of providing basic care to children under five.

Countries doing the worst are the Laos, Yemen, Chad, Somalia and Ethiopia.

 

The Philippines comes out on top in the survey, with 31 percent of children under five missing basic care. Ethiopia is at the bottom, with 84 percent lacking the basics.

Doctor Stephanie Sison of Save The Children in Manila, says effective community health workers are the key to the success in the Philippines.

"We have been able to mobilize³ many community health volunteers," she said. "These are women and men who may not be highly educated but they were trained by the Department of Health, and by NGO's and the local government. They live in the community so they're able to educate mothers directly. Mothers know to come to them when their kids are sick and they're able to identify which children need to be referred to health centers."

Sison says one of the biggest risks for the poor is not being able to get preventive services such as immunization and proper nutrition. In addition, many people do not recognize when a symptom, such as a fever or a cough, indicates severe disease, so they may not get treatment until an illness is advanced.

Also, because they can not afford the cost, many families put off treatment for a child until they have no choice.

"There is reluctance⁴ to seek professional care in a clinic because they are looking at how much it would cost just to get to the clinic," she said. "And then once they get there people will be asking them for money to be able to treat their children. So it's usually when you can really tell that the child is very, severely⁵ ill and near death. That's when they usually get enough motivation to bring the child to a health center."

In the Philippines, she says, families have to pay 44 percent of general health costs. So the very poor suffer and need free medicines.

Sison says it is up governments all over the world to provide basic health care for children, especially for poor children.

The report says the inequity between rich and poor is graphically⁶ illustrated⁷ in Peru, where the poorest children are 7.4 times more likely to die than the richest. However, based on national averages Peru has relatively⁸ high standards of health care for children.

The 55 nations surveyed in the study account for nearly 60 percent of the world's population of children under five, and 83 percent of all child deaths. India has the highest number of children without adequate care - 67 million, or 53 percent of those under five. Nigeria is second, with 16 million children suffering, or 66 percent.

One section of the report also identifies the best and worst places to be a mother and child in 146 countries. Sweden takes top place while Niger is in last place.

1 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

2 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。

3 mobilize   

vt.动员，调动，鼓动起；vi.动员起来

参考例句：

• The troops received orders to mobilize.部队接到动员令。
• He is trying to mobilize all the supporters.他正在竭力把所有的支持者动员起来。

4 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

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 graphically   

adv.通过图表；生动地，轮廓分明地

参考例句：

• This data is shown graphically on the opposite page. 对页以图表显示这些数据。
• The data can be represented graphically in a line diagram. 这些数据可以用单线图表现出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。