The warring factions in Afghanistan say they will heed a call by the United Nations to stop fighting so aid workers can begin a three-day polio vaccination campaign. The Taliban, the Afghan army and international military forces say they will halt their offensives Sunday, to coincide with International Peace Day.
阿富汗的交战各方表示，他们会响应联合国的停战呼吁，使援助人员能够进行为期3天的小儿麻痹疫苗接种行动。塔利班、阿富汗军队和国际军队说，他们将从今天(星期天)，碰巧也是国际和平日，停止攻击性行动。
Over the next three days, thousands of health workers will fan out across six volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan. Their aim is to vaccinate 1.8 million newborns and children under five against polio.
在今后3天里，数千名医务人员将进入阿富汗南部6个动荡省份。他们的目标是为180万名新生儿和5岁以下的儿童接种小儿麻痹疫苗。
The UN-led polio immunization campaign was briefly suspended last week following the deaths of two Afghan doctors working for the World Health Organization.
联合国发起的小儿麻痹疫苗接种行动上个星期因为世界卫生组织的两名阿富汗医生死亡而暂停。
A spokeswoman for W.H.O.'s Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Sona Bari, tells VOA U.N. aid agencies and local communities decided it was important to go ahead with the campaign for the sake of the children.
世界卫生组织全球消除小儿麻痹计划的发言人索尼亚.巴里，联合国各援助机构和地方社区都认为，为了孩子的利益而展开这项行动是非常重要的。
She says she hopes and believes the warring factions will abide by the U.N.'s call for a so-called "Days of Tranquility" and allow the vaccinators to do their job in safety.
她表示，她希望并且相信，交战各方将遵守联合国关于“平静日”的要求，允许防疫人员安全地完成他们的工作。
"The 21st of September is an important day because it is International Peace Day and we have traditionally used this opportunity to say let us have everyone pause and help us access the children," said Bari. "After that said, I understand from our team leader there that we do expect probably slightly lower coverage in some of those areas just so that we can respect the measures we need to take to protect our people."
巴里说 ：“9月21号是国际和平日，这是一个重要的日子，我们传统上都利用这个机会告诉大家，停止争斗，让我们去帮助孩子。我从我们的领队那里得知，在一些地区，我们预料到接种覆盖率会稍微低一点。我们需要一些措施，保护我们的工作人员。”
Afghanistan is one of four countries with endemic polio. The others are India, Pakistan and Nigeria. The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 cases of polio in Afghanistan this year. Most occurred in Southern and Eastern regions where insurgent violence is the strongest and health workers are most at risk.
阿富汗是小儿麻痹症流行的4个国家之一。其他3个是印度、巴基斯坦和尼日利亚。世界卫生组织证实，今年在阿富汗发生了18起小儿麻痹病例，其中大部分发生在反叛暴力活动最严重、医务工作者面临危险最大的南部和东部地区。
Bari says Afghanistan is the closest of the four endemic countries in stopping the spread of the crippling polio virus. But she acknowledges vaccinators, so far, have been unable to reach about 100,000 children in the south because of the insecurity.
巴里说，在这4个国家之中，阿富汗距离实现遏止小儿麻痹症病毒传播的目标最近。但是她也承认，疫苗接种人员到目前为止由于不安全的原因，还无法为阿富汗南方10万名儿童接种疫苗。
"So it is not a huge number. This is a nation with seven million children under the age of five. So that is not a significant obstacle," she added. "Afghanistan can be addressed. They are very close and with the kind of determination that we have seen this week, this is an area where they are very optimistic in terms of stopping polio transmission."
她说：“这并不是一个庞大的数字。在阿富汗，5岁以下的儿童有700万。因此这并不是什么巨大的障碍。阿富汗的问题可以得到解决。这个星期，我们看到了他们的决心。他们离目标已经很近了。在制止小儿麻痹症传播方面，我们对这一地区非常乐观。”
About 350,000 children a year have become paralyzed from polio since 1988, when the World Health Organization began its Global Eradication Campaign. Most of the world is now polio free.
自从1988年世界卫生组织开始在全球范围内消灭小儿麻痹症的活动以来，世界各国每年大约有35万儿童由于患有这种疾病而瘫痪。绝大多数国家已经消灭了这种疾病。
This year, the W.H.O. reports more than 1,200 cases of polio globally, more than half of these are in Nigeria.
世界卫生组织报告说，今年，全世界发生了1200多例小儿麻痹症，其中半数以上发生在尼日利亚。
The World Health Organization says Nigeria is the major stumbling block in efforts to wipe this crippling disease off the face of the earth.
W.H.O. spokeswoman Bari says the last two polio immunization rounds in these Nigerian States failed to reach all the children targeted because the operations were not well planned. She says vaccinators lack proper training.
She notes some parents, who are reluctant to immunize their children fearing the vaccine could cause sickness or sterility, hide their children during these campaigns. |