VOA标准英语2010年-More Effective Diagnostic Test for Mal

WHO releases new guidelines for treatment of malaria¹, making possible to rapidly diagnose malaria in even poorest settings

Lisa Schlein | Geneva 09 March 2010

The World Health Organization is releasing new guidelines for the treatment of malaria. It is now possible to rapidly diagnose malaria in even the poorest settings, making treatment of the disease more effective.

Health officials say great progress has been made in the fight against malaria. But, it still remains² a huge problem. The World Health Organization reports nearly 250 million cases of malaria occur each year, causing 850,000 deaths, most among children in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Director of the WHO Global Malaria Program, Robert Newman, says fight against malaria is far from over. But, the world now has the means to rapidly diagnose malaria and treat it effectively.

"In recent years, the development of rapid, diagnostic tests for malaria, also known as RDTs, which can be performed by healthcare workers after a brief training has made the extension of diagnostic testing to rural health facilities possible," said Robert Newman.

In 2008, WHO reports just 22 percent of suspected malaria cases were tested in 18 of 35 African countries.

Dr. Newman says the diagnostic test can be performed at all levels of the health system, including community settings. He says WHO recommends this test be performed on everyone that is suspected of having malaria.

"This will ensure, not only, that those who receive artemisinin-combination medicines really have malaria, but will also allow health care workers to exclude malaria and look for other causes of fever in those who do not have malaria…"  Newman adds, "It will take some time to achieve the goal of universal diagnostic testing for malaria…But, in the end, it will be worth it. Not only will we do a better job of treating patients, but, we will be helping³ to prevent the potential spread of resistance to artemisinins, our most important class of medicines for treating malaria." 

The World Health Organization also is issuing its first ever guidelines on "Good procurement⁴ practices" for artemisinin-based anti-malarial medicines.

WHO notes this is important because there are around 800 different brands of anti-malarial medicines around the world. It says pharmaceutical⁵ markets in malaria endemic countries often are unregulated.

As a consequence, many of these products are ineffective, sub-standard, and in some cases dangerous. The WHO guidelines will help national authorities assess the quality of malaria medicines before they buy them.
 

1 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。

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 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 procurement   

n.采购；获得

参考例句：

• He is in charge of the procurement of materials.他负责物资的采购。
• More and more,human food procurement came to have a dominant effect on their evolution.人类获取食物愈来愈显著地影响到人类的进化。

5 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。