2007年VOA标准英语-Medical Group Says Access to Medical Help in So

By Nick Wadhams
Nairobi
20 August 2007

Doctor's from the Ugandan peacekeeping force in Somalia examine a malnourished boy at their field hospital at the Halane Camp just south of Mogadishu

The medical group Doctors Without Borders is reporting a drastic decline in medical care for people in the Somali capital Mogadishu that has corresponded with widespread conflict across the country. Nick Wadhams has more from our East Africa bureau in Nairobi.

Doctors Without Borders says that only 250 hospital beds are now available in Mogadishu, down from 800 at the start of the year. About 75 percent of the staff in those hospitals have also fled.

The group says that people are terrified about leaving their homes and are not getting even basic treatment. It says that the warring parties in Somalia, which include Islamic insurgents¹, Ethiopia troops and forces of the transitional government, are not allowing doctors to work, a fact it calls shocking and absolutely unacceptable.

The situation has only gotten worse in recent months. Doctors Without Borders says it is seeing a new wave of people escaping the violence. Some 30,000 people are estimated to have fled in July alone to the west. An MSF worker who has worked there, Gustavo Jorge Fernandes, says malnutrition² among the displaced is high.

"During the month of July, from 1,500 children under five in the area we found that almost 38 percent present signs of acute malnutrition and among those almost 12 percent present signs of severe acute malnutrition, which for a better understanding means that 12 percent of this population is at immediate³ risk of dying," said Fernandes.

Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991. Conditions there became drastically worse in December, when Ethiopian forces invaded to oust⁴ the Islamic Courts Union, a group that Ethiopia and the United States say maintains strong links to al-Qaida.

Doctors Without Borders has treated some 60,000 people in that time but says even that is not nearly as much as it wants to do. "We're only able to reach a fraction of the enormous population in this city which requires assistance and that is, yeah it's making us feel extremely frustrated⁵ and angered that it is not possible to bring the medical assistance that we wish to provide in the manner that is required by those people," said Colin McIlreavy, the Somalia mission chief for MSF. "There's a willingness by MSF to do more yet we are constrained⁶ by the ongoing⁷ and we feel increasing level of insecurity."

The group says it is trying to talk to all parties in the conflict and has been able to work effectively in similarly chaotic⁸ situations. While its own employees have not been specifically targeted, it argues that insecurity is too high to provide medical care to people who need surgery or other more complicated treatment.

1 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

2 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

5 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

7 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

8 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。