VOA慢速英语2009-Development Report - Saving Preterm Babies With

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Some mothers in Senegal are learning a new way to save the lives of babies born too soon. The idea is not really new. It borrows from the way mother kangaroos carry their young in front in a pouch¹. The joey -- what Australians call a baby kangaroo -- stays in this built-in baby carrier until it can survive independently.
　
Two mothers in Malawi using kangaroo mother care

Kangaroo mother care is also known as the skin-to-skin method for premature² babies. The direct contact with the mother keeps the baby warm. It also lets the baby breastfeed at any time.

A movement to spread the use of the kangaroo method for preterm babies grew out of Bogota, Colombia, in the nineteen seventies.

Now, a doctor in Senegal who specializes in newborn care is leading a program financed³ by the Ministry⁴ of Health and UNICEF.

Every year, seven thousand babies are born at the health center where Ousmane Ndiaye works in Guediaway, outside Dakar. One in five is underweight. But Senegal has few incubators in which to keep premature babies warm.

In west and central Africa, one newborn in twenty dies. A major reason is prematurity⁵ -- the death rates are among the highest in the world.

Doctor Ndiaye says babies who weigh less than two kilos get special attention from midwives who assist with the births. They teach the mother how to keep the baby wrapped to her chest. The health center has a Kangaroo Clinic, a special area for teaching this method.

The mother's body heat is not the only thing that helps the baby. Her heartbeat helps control the baby's breathing rate.

Doctor Ndiaye says there are plans to expand the program throughout Senegal. But he believes the best way to get more people to use the kangaroo method is for mothers like Koumba Gueye to tell others about it.

Koumba Gueye recently had her third child, a boy. He arrived six weeks early. At first, she did not like carrying him in front. People looked at her strangely. She was not carrying him on her back, the traditional way. But after a few weeks, she says, the kangaroo method saved her baby's life.

And unlike a machine, the skin-to-skin contact provides two kinds of warmth -- physical and emotional.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jerilyn Watson with reporting by Fid Thompson in Dakar. The World Health Organization has a guide to kangaroo mother care. For a link, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 pouch   

n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件

参考例句：

• He was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. 他要用它们缝制一个烟草袋。
• The old man is always carrying a tobacco pouch with him.这老汉总是随身带着烟袋。

2 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。

3 financed   

为…供给资金，从事金融活动( finance的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Capital expenditure can be financed by borrowing; operating expenditure should not. 资本支出可以靠借款，而运营费用不行。
• All purchases shall be financed with the proceeds of loan. 全部货款用贷款支付。

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

5 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