VOA标准英语2011--Maternal Health Practioners Advocate Sav

Maternal¹ Health Practioners Advocate Saving Lives at Birth

The World Health Organization estimates that every minute, a woman dies during pregnancy² and millions of others suffer from infections and disease associated with childbearing. To combat this global tragedy, maternal health practitioners³ from around the world gathered recently at a symposium⁴ in Washington to showcase their strategies for saving lives.
The top prize at the Saving Lives at Birth competition, the best of more than 600 international entries, went to Dr. Michelle McIntosh and her colleagues at Monash University in Australia. They developed an inhalable spray containing the drug oxytocin that reduces postpartum hemorrhaging, or excessive bleeding during childbirth, that accounts for 25 percent of maternal deaths worldwide.
“We will manufacture a dry powder that will contain oxytocin that the mother could inhale⁵ into her lungs from where that drug Oxytocin will then be absorbed into the systemic circulation into the bloodstream,” McIntosh said.
The World Health Organization says infections, unsafe abortions⁶ and other complications account for another 70 percent of maternal deaths. That is why the presence of a skilled health worker at birth is so important, says Dr. Joy Lawn of the private organization Save the Children.
“So a critical investment globally is (to provide) care at the time of birth: the right person with the right equipment and the right support. And that’s the single most important thing that saves mothers' lives,” Lawn said.
Dr. Owen Montgomery of Drexel University in Philadelphia has worked on maternal health in Tanzania, Mozambique and Gambia. His entry in the competition detailed⁷ a program that trains experienced midwives on how to make difficult, life-or-death decisions “...to help midwives decide when, in her hands, the best answer is an emergency caesarean delivery. This comes with real anatomy⁸ training for women who are already experienced midwives, and then a simulated cesarean delivery on a state of the art mannequin,” Montgomery said.
Vishwajeet Kumar directs the Center for Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health in Shivgarh, in Uttar Pradesh, India -- a country with the world's highest rate of maternal and infant mortality. He says maternal health strategies showcased at the symposium can be effective. "Most of the innovations here, they have a lot of potential. That can be done with the community -- it can be a game-changer. If without the community, it might have a limited impact," Kumar said.
The World Health Organization says it is committed to achieving one of the U.N.'s so-called Millennium⁹ Development Goals: cutting the number of maternal deaths each year by three-fourths. Health experts say that is an achievable goal.

1 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

2 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

3 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

4 symposium   

n.讨论会，专题报告会；专题论文集

参考例句：

• What have you learned from the symposium?你参加了这次科学讨论会有什么体会？
• The specialists and scholars present at the symposium come from all corners of the country.出席研讨会的专家学者们来自全国各地。

5 inhale   

v.吸入(气体等)，吸(烟)

参考例句：

• Don't inhale dust into your lung.别把灰尘吸进肺里。
• They are pleased to not inhale second hand smoke.他们很高兴他们再也不会吸到二手烟了。

6 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

7 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

8 anatomy   

n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织

参考例句：

• He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面，他有过许多发现。
• The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。

9 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。