DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Home-Based Management of Malaria

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Home-Based Management of Malaria¹
By Karen Leggett

Broadcast: Monday, May 31, 2004

This is Robert Cohen with the VOA Special English Development Report.

Malaria is estimated² to kill another child in Africa every thirty seconds. But there is new evidence³ that treatment of malaria at home can save many lives. This is called home-based management. Home-based management is being used in several countries in Africa. These include Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria.

Local health workers and mothers of young children are trained to recognize the signs of malaria. They are taught to seek treatment immediately. Store keepers⁴ are trained to sell the right amount of medicine for the age of the patient. And directions about how to use the drugs have pictures so they are easier to understand.

World Health Organization officials say this treatment at home is reducing malaria deaths in children under the age of five. One example is in Burkina Faso. W.H.O. officials say deaths decreased by more than fifty percent when high body temperatures were treated quickly.

 
Child sick with malaria
High fever is the most important sign of malaria. Experts say children should be treated within twenty-hour hours after their temperature rises. At first, a cool wet cloth may help reduce the body temperature. But children can die within two days if the malaria becomes severe⁵. Children must receive the correct amount of medicine. And they must take all the medicine they are given.

Mothers and health workers are told to take the child to a medical center if the fever is treated but continues after two days. Other signs of malaria include sleepiness and feeling sick in the stomach. The W.H.O. says people often take patients to traditional healers to treat another effect of malaria: severe shaking. But it says the healers should be trained to tell them they must go to a hospital.

The World Health Organization has published a guide in an effort to increase malaria treatment at home. This information tells about how to train and educate mothers and other people about malaria. In Uganda, for example, communities have elected a person to learn the signs of malaria and provide medicine. Teachers and store keepers are also trained to help educate the community about malaria.

The guide is called "Scaling⁶ Up Home-Based Management of Malaria." Internet users⁷ can find it at www.who.int. Again, www.who.int.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Karen Leggett. This is Robert Cohen.

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 estimated   

adj．根据估计的

参考例句：

• She estimated the breadth of the lake to be 500 metres. 她估计湖面大约有500米宽。
• The man estimated for the repair of the car. 那人估算了修理汽车的费用。

3 evidence   

n.明显，显著，明白，迹象，根据，[物]证据，证物

参考例句：

• The first signs of spring are in evidence.春天的最初迹象已显然可见。
• From the evidence I must conclude that you are wrong.从证据看，我敢断定你错了。

4 keepers   

n.饲养员( keeper的名词复数 )；保管人；管理人；负责人

参考例句：

• "Well, we only employ book-keepers and typewriters here. “是这样，我们这里只雇佣会计师和打字员。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• The zoo keepers released the lions from their cage. 动物饲养员把狮子从笼子里放出来。 来自互联网

5 severe   

adj.严格的，凶猛的，严肃的，严重的，严厉的，朴素的

参考例句：

• The severe storm did for most of the crops.猛烈的暴风雨毁掉了大部分庄稼。
• The pace was too severe to be kept up for long.跟上这步伐太难了，无法持久。

6 scaling   

n.缩放比例；刮治术；定标；洁治

参考例句：

• Police are scaling down the search for the attacker. 警方正在缩小对攻击者的搜寻规模。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The plaster is scaling off the wall. 灰泥从墙上剥落。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 users   

用户，使用者( user的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The new software will prove a boon to Internet users. 这种新软件将会对互联网用户大有益处。
• Ramps should be provided for wheelchair users. 应该给轮椅使用者提供坡道。