VOA标准英语2009年-UN Urges Greater Investment in Maternal, C

By Daniel Schearf
Bangkok
16 September 2009

The United Nations says maternal¹ and child mortality rates in the Asia-Pacific region are not improving fast enough because of poor access to reproductive health care. U.N. officials say more resources are needed to reach the goal of universal access by 2015.

U.N. officials say some progress has been made toward development goals on women and childbirth in the Asia-Pacific region.

More girls are in school than ever before and family planning education has improved, bringing down fertility rates.

 
Noeleen Heyzer 
But the U.N.'s top official in the region, Noeleen Heyzer, says maternal and child mortality rates are still too high.

"Maternal health and child mortality are areas where progress has been extremely slow and where urgent action is required and required urgently," Heyzer said. "With more than 300 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, the region accounts for half of the global total."

Heyzer says the largest number of maternal deaths are in South Asia and that poor health care, gender² inequality, violence, and poverty are to blame.

Purnima Mane is the deputy director of the United Nations Population Fund. She says the greatest health inequity in the world is maternal mortality.

"Every minute a woman dies giving life," Mane noted³. "Virtually all of these deaths are in less developed nations, thus reinforcing inequality and poverty. It also reinforces gender inequalities as the overall burden of ill-health still falls most heavily on women in low and middle-income countries. In fact, inequalities in access to sexual and reproductive health are higher than for almost any other health indicators⁴."

Mane says more resources need to be devoted⁵ to reproductive health, particularly to provide skilled care at birth and family planning.

The U.N. officials were speaking in Bangkok at the opening of a two-day forum⁶ on accelerating progress on development goals agreed to 15 years ago.

Heyzer told the forum the U.N. would consolidate⁷ resources to help ensure that by 2015, the maternal mortality ratio is reduced by three quarters from 1990 levels.

At the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo more than 170 nations agreed they should have universal access to reproductive health care by 2015.

Mane says there is still time to keep the promises made in Cairo, but she says countries have to redouble their efforts.

1 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。

2 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 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。

5 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

6 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

7 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。