2006年VOA标准英语-Conference Blames Culture, Poverty, War for Afr

By Efam Dovi
Accra
15 November 2006

A conference of African population experts in Ghana says unless deep-rooted cultural practices, ignorance, and war are addressed, efforts to save the lives of thousands of women who die each year from complications of pregnancy¹ and childbirth, will be wasted. 

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The experts, attending the Africa Population Commissions West African regional conference, said safe motherhood should be of concern to everyone because for every maternal² death, someone has lost a spouse³, a sister, a mother or a child.

They said, while maternal deaths have decreased significantly in developed countries, there has been little or no improvement in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in the West Africa region. 

Togolese refugee Asadonde Afi, 17,  breastfeeds her baby in Lokossa refugee camp in Benin (file photo)

The population experts said the situation is not merely that of technology, but also attitudes, poverty, increased conflicts in the region and lack of knowledge on reproductive health issues.

Professor Angela Okolo represented the West African Health Organization. She says while it is important to enact⁴ laws to stop some of the harmful cultural practices, the public also needs to be educated.

"We [WAHO] are at the point of getting advocacy tools adopted to address certain issues because definitely in this area of reduction of maternal mortality and perinatal mortality, advocacy has a lot of role to play, its not just by enacting⁵ laws that we can achieve," she said.

Ghana's national family planning program manager, Dr. Gloria Quansah Asare, says ignorance about contraceptives is contributing to unsafe abortions⁶, which are blamed for 30 percent of maternal deaths in the region.

She says more community-based health officers need to be trained, to address some of the bottlenecks⁷ in the delivery of reproductive health services.

"There are delays, delays from the home decision making on when to even bring a woman in labor⁸ or a pregnant woman to the facility, once the decision has been made, delays in even transporting the person, and once they get into the facility, delays and sometimes lack of things to get the best care to the person," Dr. Asare said.

Larry Younquoi, director at Liberia's population policy coordinating⁹ unit, said many years of conflict have destroyed health infrastructure¹⁰ in Liberia, describing the maternal health situation in that country as appalling¹¹. He stressed the need for the government to step-up support for the sector¹², adding that the issue of ignorance is also being fought.

"We have launched a media campaign, through drama, radio clips and print media, where we are trying to sensitize and educate Liberian people about all these indicators¹³, so ignorance is being fought seriously through a lot of publicity¹⁴ and other conferences that we are currently holding," he said.

For three days, the more than 200 experts from across Africa, discussed how to make motherhood safer in West Africa, where 120,000 women continue to die each year from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.

1 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

2 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

3 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

4 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

5 enacting   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Generally these statutes apply only to wastes from reactors outside the enacting state. 总之，这些法令只适宜用在对付那些来自外州的核废料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• In addition, the complexion of enacting standards for live working is described. 另外，介绍了带电作业标准的制订情况。

6 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

7 bottlenecks   

n.瓶颈( bottleneck的名词复数 )；瓶颈路段（常引起交通堵塞）；（尤指工商业发展的）瓶颈；阻碍

参考例句：

• Roadworks are causing bottlenecks in the city centre. 道路施工导致市中心交通阻塞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At five o'clock in the afternoon the city streets are a series of bottlenecks. 下午五点市中心的街道就成了拥挤不堪的窄路。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

10 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

11 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

12 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

13 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

14 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。