VOA标准英语2011--Better Labs, Better Health Care in Afric

A new organization aims to sharply improve the quality of African laboratories, allowing health professionals to better track, treat and test for diseases. It's called the African Society for Laboratory Medicine, or ASLM.
A new organization aims to sharply improve the quality of African laboratories, allowing health professionals to better track, treat and test for diseases.
It's called the African Society for Laboratory Medicine, or ASLM.
"It's basically an independent, not-for-profit entity¹ that is organized on the continent of Africa to focus on the growing demand for really high quality medical and research laboratories throughout Africa," says Dr. Blair Holladay, executive vice-president of the American Society for Clinical Pathology. The ASCP has helped train many African lab technicians.
"The laboratory serves as 70 percent of the information that's used for a patient to be treated for disease. So without a laboratory or without the infrastructure² set-up, over 70 percent of diseases cannot be treated effectively and/or even treated. So patients go untreated," he says.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. John Nkengasong, director of its laboratory program, started efforts to form the ASLM about a year and a half ago. Now, many policymakers, health and lab professionals, African ministers and international officials are involved.
Holladay says, "That Pan-African society is a body that works for Africa to address the lack of laboratory bodies in Africa and helping³ for the advancement⁴ and the needs for the workforce⁵ of the laboratory system, so we can strengthen and lead to a better systematic⁶ standardization⁷ in African laboratories."
Holladay says African lab workers will be trained on the latest techniques and equipment. They in turn will train others until labs across the continent are improved.
"The treatment and prevention of the majority of significant illnesses," he says, "can really be improved by confirmation⁸ in the laboratory of that diagnosis⁹, monitoring the patient day after day and making sure the diagnosis has actually been made and there's been clinical intervention¹⁰ as a result of that diagnosis. And lastly, the laboratories are also involved in surveillance and monitoring the trends for both morbidity¹¹ and mortality of diseases."
The African Society for Laboratory Medicine was launched at a meeting in Addis Ababa in mid-March. Dr. Nkengasong, chairman of the Board of Directors at ASLM, says he expects work to begin around July.

1 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

2 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

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 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

7 standardization   

n.标准化

参考例句：

• Standardization of counseling techniques is obviously impossible. 很清楚，要想使研讨方法标准化是不可能的。
• In Britain, progress towards standardization was much slower. 在英国，向标准化进展要迟缓得多。

8 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

9 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。

10 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

11 morbidity   

n.病态；不健全；发病；发病率

参考例句：

• MC's also significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality induced by honeybee venom. 肥大细胞同样也能显著降低蜜蜂毒液诱发疾病的发病率和死亡率。 来自互联网
• The result shows that incidence of myopia morbidity is 44.84%. 结果表明：近视眼的发病率为44.84%。 来自互联网