VOA常速英语2007年-Global Fund Says Insecticide-Treated Bed Nets R

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
27 November 2007

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis¹, and Malaria² reports nearly every family with children in Africa soon could have a bed net to protect against malaria.  The Geneva-based Global Fund says it has delivered 46 million insecticide-treated bed nets to families in malaria zones, a 155 percent increase over last year's result of 18 million.  Lisa Schlein reports for VOA.

The Global Fund says insecticide-treated bed nets are one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent malaria transmission. 

Recently published studies show a combination of bed nets and treatment can reduce malaria transmission by as much as 90 percent in areas with high coverage³ rates.

Executive director of the Global Fund, Michel Kazatchkine, tells VOA that Zanzibar has just achieved this goal and other countries in Africa also are making significant progress.

"For example, in the southern provinces of Zambia, we now have seen a decrease by 90 percent in malaria deaths between 2001 and 2006," he said.  "In Eritrea, despite the political situation, a 70 percent decline of malaria cases since 2001.  In a number of pilot districts in Tanzania where bed nets are distributed and ACT's are widely given, a decline by over 50 percent in under-five mortality has been observed." 

Dr. Kazatchkine says many countries have reached 60 percent coverage of families.  He says mortality or morbidity⁴ of small children and pregnant women is significantly reduced in countries that achieve this threshold. 

He says countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda have dramatically increased the delivery of bed nets through Global Fund financing.

But, he warns against complacency.  He says more than one million people still die each year from malaria.  He notes many areas in Africa such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo do not have access to bed nets. 

"I believe we are on the right track.  That is the message today," he said.  "We are not yet there, of course, but we are on the right track.  I am convinced that if we stay strong with this effort within three to five years, we can very drastically reduce malaria as a public health problem in many endemic countries in the developing world." 

One bed net costs $5.  The Global Fund has approved $3.6 billion over five years for 146 programs to fight malaria in 78 countries.  The money will pay for bed nets and for drugs to treat people suffering from malaria.

1 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

2 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。

3 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。

4 morbidity   

n.病态；不健全；发病；发病率

参考例句：

• MC's also significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality induced by honeybee venom. 肥大细胞同样也能显著降低蜜蜂毒液诱发疾病的发病率和死亡率。 来自互联网
• The result shows that incidence of myopia morbidity is 44.84%. 结果表明：近视眼的发病率为44.84%。 来自互联网