VOA常速英语2016--推进卫生安全需各国共同携手

The world is getting smaller. And as ever more people travel across continents, an infectious disease threat anywhere can be a threat everywhere. In today's interconnected world, a pathogen can travel around the globe to major cities in as little as 36 hours. This means that when a deadly disease, such as the avian flu for example, emerges from a rural location where people and animals live in close contact, it can quickly move to cities, and from there be carried around the world within hours. In densely¹ populated areas, one or two carriers of a highly infectious disease can cause a pandemic or even an epidemic² within days.

Prevention is the first line of defense³ against deadly diseases. To defeat potential outbreaks should they emerge, it is crucial that the world community is capable of quickly detecting, responding to and containing infectious diseases occurring anywhere in the world. This means close cooperation and communication among governments and health organizations around the world. But fragile national health systems in too many countries make this difficult, which leaves the world vulnerable to the outbreaks.

The Global Health Security Agenda is a partnership⁴ of international organizations, non-governmental stakeholders, and 55 countries, including the United States. Launched two years ago, it aims to help countries address global vulnerability to these public health threats, strengthen systems, and ensure that a trained workforce⁵ has the systems and tools needed to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious diseases.

On November 4th, President Barack Obama signed an executive order which cements the Global Health Security Agenda as a national, priority and affirms the United States' commitment to achieving the protections that Global Health Security Agenda makes possible.

“Promoting global health security is a core tenet of our national strategy for countering biological threats. No single nation can be prepared if other nations remain unprepared to counter biological threats,” states the document.

“The comprehensive framework the Obama Administration is launching with this executive order,” wrote USAID Assistant Administrator⁶ for Global Health, Dr. Ariel Pablos Mendez, “will have a far-reaching impact on our ability to partner with new sectors⁷ to prevent, detect and respond to epidemic threats; leverage⁸ the full power and leadership of the U.S. Government for this effort; and move us closer to achieving the vision of a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats.”

世界正变得越来越小。随着人们在不同大洲之间流动，任何一个地方传染病的威胁都有可能成为全球的威胁。在当今互联互通的世界里，一种病原体可以在仅仅36个小时的时间里在全球主要大城市间传播。这就意味着，如果一种致命性疾病（以禽流感为例）在某个人与动物密切接触的农村地区出现的话，那么这种疾病就能迅速在城市间传播，继而在数小时内传播到全球。在人口稠密的地区，一个或两个高度传染性疾病的携带者可能会在数天内引发流行病甚至传染病。

预防是抵御多种致命疾病的第一道防线。击溃致命疾病的可能性爆发，关键在于国际社群能够迅速检测、回应、控制全球任何地方的传染性疾病。而这就需要各国政府和全球卫生组织之间的密切合作与沟通。然而，很多国家的卫生体系脆弱不堪，给这项工作带来了困难，让全球在多种疾病爆发面前束手无策。

全球卫生安全议程是多个国际机构、非政府性利益相关方以及包括美国在内的55个国家共同合作的项目。该项目于2年前启动，旨在帮助不同国家解决在公众卫生威胁面前防御力地下的问题，同时还有加强各国卫生系统、确保训练有素的卫生工作人员在抵御、检测、回应传染性疾病时具备所需的多种系统和工具。

11月4日，美国总统奥巴马签署了总统行政命令，加强了全球卫生安全议程作为国家级首要事项的重要性，同时申明了美国对于实现由全球卫生安全议程作为前提的卫生保护的承诺。

“促进全球卫生安全是我们对抗多种生物威胁的国家战略核心原则。没有任何单个国家能在其他国家对抗生物威胁方面准备不足的情况下独善其身，”这份总统行政命令中写道。

“奥巴马政府所发布总统行政命令中的这个综合性框架，”美国国际开发署（USAID）行政助理阿里尔?帕布罗?门德斯博士说，“对于我们在新领域合作以预防、检测、回应传染性疾病的能力、借助美国政府在卫生安全方面的全权与领导力、带领我们朝着不受传染性疾病威胁的世界前景更进一步等方面具有深远意义。”

1 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

2 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。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 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。

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 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

7 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。