Progress Made Against Malaria at Risk

 

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

In recent decades, countries around the world have made great progress against malaria¹. However, a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) says that progress is at risk.

This WHO annual report looks at the global fight against the disease. It says that malaria cases are on the rise in several countries.

Many countries are moving toward eliminating malaria, among them Madagascar, Senegal and Zimbabwe.

However, the WHO report warns that in others, progress has stalled.

Malaria cases increased by more than 20 percent from 2015 to 2016 in eight African countries - including Rwanda, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At the same time, funding for malaria prevention and treatment has leveled off, reaching $2.7 billion in 2016. This amount is less than half of the 2020 target.

Professor David Conway is from the London School of Hygiene² and Tropical Medicine. He says money for fighting malaria has plateaued, meaning it has not increased in a long time.

"That amount of funding internationally has plateaued.Possibly it has reached the realistic maximum. And it has always been assumed; indeed it has been important that countries themselves should commit to funding malaria control. And I think the big opportunity now is for those countries to step up and realize that this is good value."

Overall, Africa continues to suffer the most from malaria. In 2016, just over 400,000 people died from the disease. This is slightly less than in 2015. However, in Africa the malaria parasite³ does not yet appear to be developing drug resistance.

The same cannot be said for Southeast Asia.

Conway explains that there are renewed concerns that in Southeast Asia malaria will become drug-resistant in the future.

“The current treatments within Africa – they work very well. There is resistance in Southeast Asia which has spread, which potentially going to be more of a problem in the future. Insecticide resistance has spread much more. That’s resistance in the mosquitoes.”

The WHO is calling for improving the coverage⁴ of existing methods of malaria prevention as well as an urgent investment in new tools -- namely a malaria vaccine⁵.

Again, here is Professor Conway.

"More research is needed to develop an effective malaria vaccine that could cover the populations that at the moment have high malaria rates and that perhaps don't use the available interventions⁷ even when they are being funded."

Several malaria vaccines⁸ are under development. Starting in 2018, the WHO is planning a major trial of the RTSS vaccine in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi.

But this latest report from the WHO warns that the world is at a crossroads. Without better funding and more effective tools to fight malaria, the progress made in recent decades could be undone⁹.

And that's the Health & Lifestyle report.

I'm Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

stall – v. to bring to a standstill

plateau – v. to reach a level, period, or condition of stability or maximum attainment¹⁰

realistic – adj. able to see things as they really are and to deal with them in a practical way

maximum – adj. the highest number or amount that is possible or allowed — usually singular

assume – v. to think that something is true or probably true without knowing that it is true

commit – v. to say that (someone or something) will definitely do something : to make (someone or something) obligated to do something

step up – phrasal verb to come forward <stepped up to claim responsibility> : to increase, augment¹¹, or advance especially by one or more steps <step up production>

insecticide – n. a chemical substance that is used to kill insects

intervention⁶ – n. to become involved in something (such as a conflict) in order to have an influence on what happens

trial – n. a test of the quality, value, or usefulness of something

crossroads – n. often used figuratively to refer to a place or time at which a decision must be made

1 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。

2 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。

3 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

4 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。

5 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

6 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

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 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。

9 undone   

a.未做完的，未完成的

参考例句：

• He left nothing undone that needed attention.所有需要注意的事他都注意到了。

10 attainment   

n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣

参考例句：

• We congratulated her upon her attainment to so great an age.我们祝贺她高寿。
• The attainment of the success is not easy.成功的取得并不容易。

11 augment   

vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张

参考例句：

• They hit upon another idea to augment their income.他们又想出一个增加收入的办法。
• The government's first concern was to augment the army and auxiliary forces.政府首先关心的是增强军队和辅助的力量。