VOA新闻杂志2022--太阳能氧气拯救索马里儿童生命

Solar-Powered Oxygen Saves Lives of Somali Children

Somali and World Health Organization doctors say a medical oxygen system powered by the sun is helping¹ save lives at a hospital in central Somalia.

The solar-powered oxygen system is the first of its kind in the country. It was setup a year ago at Hanaano Hospital in the central town of Dhusamareb. The doctors said the system is effective and is helping save the lives of very young patients.

"This innovation is giving us promise and hopes," said WHO Somalia Representative Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik.

Malik said 171 patients received oxygen at the hospital from the solar-powered system from February to October of last year. Of those patients, 163 fully² recovered and were able to leave. Only three patients died. Five others were sent to other hospitals.

Malik said that every year 15,000 to 20,000 children under five years of age in Somalia die from the lung disease pneumonia³. He said pneumonia is the deadliest disease among children under the age of five in the country. Until now, health officials had not had a way to reduce deaths from childhood pneumonia.

Dr. Mohamed Abdi is the director of Hanaano Hospital. He praised the oxygen system.

"It has helped a lot, it has saved more than a hundred people who received the service," he told VOA Somali.

Abdi said it was difficult for doctors to save the lives of children born early at the hospital before the system was put in place. The new system helps maintain high oxygen saturation⁴ levels in patients. Oxygen saturation levels are a measure of the amount of oxygen in a person's blood.

Abdiaziz Omar Abdi was a child admitted to the hospital on January 16. He had severe pneumonia and was struggling to breathe normally. The oxygen rate in his body had dropped to 60 percent, Dr. Abdi said.

Doctors immediately gave him oxygen and provided the medicines ampicillin and dexamethasone. When he left the hospital three days later, the child was breathing normally. His oxygen level was up to 90 percent.

Abdiaziz received the treatment at no cost to his family.

Malik said the oxygen is being used to treat many medical conditions, including asphyxia, pneumonia, injuries, trauma⁵, and road traffic accidents.

Malik said if this innovation is used widely in Somalia, it can save the lives of at least 7,000 children who die "needlessly" of pneumonia.

The move to install medical equipment that uses solar energy at Hanaano Hospital began during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. At the time, many people were dying because of breathing problems. Hospitals were unable to treat all the patients. And the cost of an oxygen container rose to between $400 and $600. Malik said that oxygen was "the biggest need in all the hospitals."

Doctors said the solar-powered oxygen system can also provide electricity for other devices. The doctors said solar power can help provide energy for refrigeration needed to store vaccines⁶ or drugs at a low temperature.

Words in This Story

innovation –n. a new idea, device, or method

install –v. to make a machine or device ready to operate in the place where it is to be used

refrigeration –n. the process or use of a machine that can keep things inside it cold

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 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。

4 saturation   

n.饱和(状态)；浸透

参考例句：

• The company's sales are now close to saturation in many western countries.这家公司的产品销售量在许多西方国家已接近饱和。
• Road traffic has reached saturation point.公路交通已达到饱和点。

5 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

6 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。