HEALTH REPORT - Measles Campaign Reduces Deaths in African C

HEALTH REPORT - Measles¹ Campaign Reduces Deaths in African Children
By Cynthia Kirk

Broadcast: Wednesday, November 16, 2005

I'm Jim Tedder³ with the VOA Special English Health Report.

 
redcross Uganda measles child 150.jpg
An international group says cases of measles in Africa have dropped by sixty percent since nineteen ninety-nine. The group is known as the Measles Initiative. It says almost two hundred million children have been vaccinated⁴ against the disease in the past six years. The World Health Organization says vaccination⁵ campaigns in more than forty countries in Africa have saved one million children.

Measles is the leading cause of vaccine⁶-preventable death in children. Vaccination campaigns have controlled the disease in Western countries. But it still leads to more than four hundred thousand deaths each year. Most of the victims are under five years old.

Almost every child got measles before a vaccine was discovered in nineteen sixty-two. About five percent died. Measles itself does not kill children. Instead, it weakens their systems so they can die from other infections.

Measles is one of the most infectious diseases known. It spreads through the air. Signs include high body temperature, skin peeling, cough and difficulty breathing. Measles can cause diarrhea, pneumonia⁷, blindness and other disorders⁸.

Health officials say the Measles Initiative has led to other improvements for children in southern Africa. Through the campaign, children receive bed nets treated with insecticide to kill mosquitoes that spread malaria⁹. They receive vitamin A to prevent blindness. And they receive treatment for stomach worms.

Representatives of the Measles Initiative announced the progress at a Global Health Summit in New York earlier this month. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Time magazine and other organizations provided support for the meeting.

The Measles Initiative has raised more than one hundred forty million dollars since two thousand one. The alliance includes the American Red Cross and United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It also includes UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Foundation, a private group led by businessman Ted² Turner.

Health officials say ninety-five percent of all cases of measles are in Africa. But UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman says Asia has the greatest number of children who die. She says the success of the Measles Initiative must now be copied in Asia.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk.  I'm Jim Tedder.

1 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

4 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

5 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

6 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。

7 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。

8 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 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。