2007年VOA标准英语-Nigeria Polio Victims Campaign for Child Immuni

By Sarah Simpson
Kano, Nigeria
22 March 2007

Northern Nigeria is one of the few regions in the world where polio remains² endemic, despite efforts to eradicate³ this crippling and potentially fatal virus.  Sarah Simpson reports from the north's largest city, Kano, where polio victims have joined the fight against polio by using their disabilities to shock reluctant parents into getting their kids immunized.

Aminu Ahmed and three other members of the Polio Victims Trust Association of Kano climb into a specially⁴ adapted taxi.  All of the men are crippled by polio, including the driver.  They are on their way to a poor part of town where many parents had rejected a polio vaccination⁵ for their children, that is, until the association members intervened.

 
Polio victim Aminu Ahmed swings himself through the narrow streets of Kano's
ancient walled city where he impresses upon parents the importance of child immunization, 17 Mar¹ 07
"Before they [were] not accepting, but now they are accepting, because we show them, 'Do you want your son or your family to be like me?'  Most of the people say 'I do not like it,' so we say OK, [allow] your son to be immunized,'" he said.

The men must leave the car, because it cannot pass through Kano's old town, a maze⁶ of narrow alleyways and high mud walls.  Ahmed leads the way.  Both his legs are withered⁷ by polio, which he contracted as a child, so he moves across the ground on his hands and one foot.

Ahmed has visited many families in this cloistered⁸ neighborhood to urge parents to heed⁹ the advice of health workers.  One mother, Safiya Ado, has three boys all under the age of six. 

Speaking in Hausa, Ado explains that, despite her initial skepticism, she now fully¹⁰ cooperates with health workers.  She is heard here through an interpreter.

 
Safiya Ado with her three boys who have been immunized against polio after initial skepticism, 17 Mar 2007
"Because I want my children to grow very well and I do not want them to be polio victims, I give them over to health workers every month when they visit," she said.

Residents like Ado became distrustful of a World Health Organization (WHO) campaign to eradicate polio when Muslim religious leaders voiced doubt over the safety of the vaccine¹¹.  They said that it was a Western plot to reduce fertility levels in Muslim children.

That was back in 2003 and led to an abrupt¹² halt in a W.H.O. anti-polio program that consisted of administering two drops of polio vaccine onto the tongues of 4 million children in Kano State.

Concerns spread, and ultimately five northern Nigerian states banned the polio vaccine altogether.

The number of polio cases in northern Nigeria has since spiked¹³.  In 2006, Nigeria accounted for 70 percent of the world's cases of polio, according to WHO figures.

Though religious and political leaders now support polio immunization, Mohammed Doko of the charity COMPASS (which is working closely with the polio victims in Kano) says it is still difficult for aid workers like him to give the assurances parents need because of years of mixed messages.

"You know, this is a relatively¹⁴ conservative society down here and anything from the West is taken with a little caution on the side of the families," he said.

But acceptance of the polio immunization program is on the rise in Kano, agree health workers and community leaders.  In part that is because the program has been broadened to cover a variety of diseases and mosquito nets are also distributed to tackle malaria¹⁵, making the program more palatable¹⁶.  But Kano's polio victims have also played an important role in getting the right message across, says Doko.

"Most polio victims are from here," he added.  "The people here identify with them, they know them.  So they accept messages coming from them.  And especially seeing them crawling on the ground has a very deep impact on parents."

Nigeria is one of only six countries in the world classified as polio endemic by WHO.  A 20-year-old global initiative to eradicate polio missed a 2005 deadline, though WHO officials in Geneva last month said that polio eradication¹⁷ remained a priority without setting a new target date.

1 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

4 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

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 maze   

n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑

参考例句：

• He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
• She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时，她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。

7 withered   

adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The grass had withered in the warm sun. 这些草在温暖的阳光下枯死了。
• The leaves of this tree have become dry and withered. 这棵树下的叶子干枯了。

8 cloistered   

adj.隐居的，躲开尘世纷争的v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the cloistered world of the university 与世隔绝的大学
• She cloistered herself in the office. 她呆在办公室里好像与世隔绝一样。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。

10 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。

11 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。

12 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

13 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

14 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

15 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。

16 palatable   

adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的

参考例句：

• The truth is not always very palatable.事实真相并非尽如人意。
• This wine is palatable and not very expensive.这种酒味道不错，价钱也不算贵。

17 eradication   

n.根除

参考例句：

• The eradication of an established infestation is not easy. 根除昆虫蔓延是不容易的。
• This is often required for intelligent control and eradication. 这经常需要灵巧的控制与消除。