VOA标准英语2015--报告显示30个国家极易流行博尔纳病毒

Report: 30 Countries Highly Vulnerable to Ebola-like Epidemics² 报告显示30个国家极易流行博尔纳病毒

A new report warns that nearly 30 countries are highly vulnerable to an Ebola-like epidemic¹. Save the Children says those countries have even weaker health care systems than Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone had before the outbreak.

The Save the Children report is entitled: Wake Up Call: Lessons from Ebola for the World’s Health Systems.

Brendan, the organization’s Director of Policy and Advocacy, said, “Well, what we hope is that from all of the horror, the pain and the suffering that’s come as a result of the Ebola crisis that some good will come of it, that we will learn some of the lessons. And so, as the name of the report says, we hope it will be a wake up call to the international community. What that means is that we need to get much better at not just responding to crises like Ebola, but getting out ahead of them.”

He said that countries with weak health care systems are prime areas for disease outbreaks.

“When you allow a country like Liberia with one health care worker per 4,000 people, which compares to the U.K. of one per 80, for example, it should be of no surprise that those countries are susceptible³ to outbreaks like this. But also they can incubate diseases like this that can also spread around the planet.”

The Save the Children report lists 28 countries as highly vulnerable to West Africa Ebola-size epidemics.

“Most of them are Africa, but they range from Haiti to Afghanistan, really right around the world, but obviously focused on those poorest countries. And what that says is that far from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea being the exception – far from them being strange individual cases -- in fact, there’s a whole set of countries, some with much bigger population sizes, that could be in danger of these sorts of diseases,” said Cox.

The threat is not just from Ebola. Cox said two new zoonotic diseases – diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans – emerge every year.

It’s estimated donors⁴ have committed $4.3 billion to fight Ebola in West Africa. Save the Children said that’s “nearly three times the annual cost of investing in building a universal health service in all three affected⁵ countries.”

“Unless we learn an old adage⁶ that prevention is better than cure, we’re going to be spending a hell of a lot of money that we didn’t need to. And most importantly, a lot more human suffering [than] there needs to be," he said. "So that’s why we’re saying, ‘learn that lesson. Invest in health systems. Build up a basic health care system in each of these countries.’ And that – not protective suits, not vaccines⁷, not reforming the humanitarian⁸ system – that is the key lesson from this crisis.”

Cox said that universal health coverage⁹ would allow diseases to be identified, contained and treated early.

“People will be going for routine immunizations. People would be going to give birth. Mortality rates will come down,” he said.

Weak health care systems, he said, contribute to the deaths of 17,000 children each day from preventable causes, such as malaria¹⁰ and pneumonia¹¹.

The World Health Organization estimates it would cost a country nearly $90 per person per year to provide the minimum of health care.

The Save the Children report recommended countries increase their domestic tax revenue so they can “allocate at least 15 percent of their national budgets to health.” It also called on world leaders “to commit to end preventable maternal¹², new-born and child deaths by 2030.”

The organization said this and universal health coverage could be addressed in the Sustainable Development Goals that will replace the Millennium¹³ Development Goals at the end of this year.

1 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

2 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

3 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

4 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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。

6 adage   

n.格言，古训

参考例句：

• But the old adage that men grow into office has not proved true in my experience.但是，根据我的经验，人们所谓的工作岗位造就人材这句古话并不正确。
• Her experience lends credence to the adage " We live and learn!"她的经验印证了一句格言: 活到老，学到老！

7 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。

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

9 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

10 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。

11 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。

12 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。

13 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。