VOA标准英语2014--早产并发症是导致婴幼儿死亡的第一大死因

 

Study: Preterm Birth Complications Leading Cause of Death for Young Children 早产并发症是导致婴幼儿死亡的第一大死因

Complications from preterm births now outrank all other causes of death for young children. Of the more than 6.3 million deaths of kids under age five in 2013, more than one million resulted from preterm problems.

The new study was released November 17, World Prematurity¹ Day, and appears in The Lancet medical journal. It’s a collaborative effort by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the London School of Hygiene³ and Tropical Medicine and the World Health Organization.

The vast majority the deaths from direct complications of preterm births occurred within the first 28 days of life – with an additional 125,000 deaths occurring between one month and five years.

Dr. Andres de Francisco, interim⁴ executive director of the Geneva-based Partnership⁵ for Maternal⁶ Newborn and Child Health, said, “Over the last few years the proportion of deaths due to preterm births has been increasing. The reason for this is that we do not really have major interventions⁷ in place to avoid premature⁸ births -- and second, to manage them in most communities where they occur.”

He said preterm birth complications are a worldwide problem.

“We have countries in Africa, for example – Nigeria – or in Asia -- India and Pakistan -- that have extremely high numbers of kids that are dying related to preterm births. But this is not only a problem in developing countries," de Francisco said. "This is also a problem that affects developed countries, as well.”

India actually tops the list, followed by Nigeria, Pakistan, the DRC, China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Angola and Kenya. Researchers warn the Ebola outbreak in West Africa raises the risk of preterm complications in the affected⁹ countries.

The rise in deaths from preterm birth complications actually coincides with a dramatic decline in the worldwide mortality rate of children under five.

“Mortality has been reducing by about 3.9 percent per year, which is a very impressive reduction of mortality -- and is due to a lot of interventions that we have in stock, including decreasing the mortality due to infectious diseases, such as pneumonia¹⁰ and diarrhea, malaria¹¹, among others,” de Francisco said.

Some of the interventions credited for the mortality rate decline include vaccines¹², bed nets, antibiotics¹³, anti-malarial and HIV treatments.

But de Francisco said the mortality rate for premature babies has decreased by a much smaller rate of 2 percent a year. A big part of the reason, he says, is a lack of adequate interventions. And, right now, it’s not clear what the best interventions are, aside from addressing obesity¹⁴ and high blood pressure or hypertension.

The study said for the most part it’s not fully¹⁵ known what triggers pre-term labor² – and about half of pre-term births occur spontaneously.

“This cause of mortality needs to be studied much more specifically and in a much more focused way. Because if we don’t have the causes – if we don’t have the factors – pregnancy¹⁶ is going to end in a premature birth. And this needs to be the focus of intensive research,” de Francisco said.

Some $250 million worth of intensive research is getting underway through four major initiatives: the Global Coalition¹⁷ to Advance Preterm Birth Research; the March of Dimes¹⁸; the University of California at San Francisco’s Preterm Birth Initiative; and the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth.

“If we are able to support these research programs, within the next five years or so, we will be able to have interventions that are going to contribute to the reduction of mortality in these very small babies,” he said.

Researchers also will study poverty, nutrition, pollution and stress. And they’ll try to solve a mystery: why do Somali women living in the United States have “very low rates of premature births, while most black women in the U.S. have very high rates.” 

1 prematurity   

n.早熟，过早，早开花

参考例句：

• Associated anomalies and prematurity significantly influence the mortality rate. 并发畸形与早产儿显著地影响死亡率。 来自辞典例句
• Prematurity may also result in visual impairment or blindness. 早产也可导致视力障碍或失明。 来自互联网

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

4 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

5 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

6 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。

7 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

8 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 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。

11 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。

12 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。

13 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。

14 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

15 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

16 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。

17 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

18 dimes   

n.（美国、加拿大的）10分铸币( dime的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters are United States coins. 1分铜币、5分镍币、1角银币和2角5分银币是美国硬币。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In 1965 the mint stopped putting silver in dimes. 1965年，铸币厂停止向10分硬币中加入银的成分。 来自辞典例句