VOA标准英语2011--UN: Chronic, Noncommunicable Disease is

UN: Chronic¹, Noncommunicable Disease is Leading Killer²

The World Health Organization has released its second major report in six months on the growing worldwide threat from noncommunicable diseases, especially the five biggest killers³: cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung disease and diabetes⁴.
Coming on the eve of next week's international conference on chronic diseases at the United Nations in New York, the new report provides detailed⁵ country-by-country guidelines for preventing and treating these debilitating⁶ and deadly illnesses.
The WHO report says cancer alone kills 7.6 million people every year, more than the number who die from HIV/AIDS, malaria⁷, and tuberculosis⁸ combined.
While it is the communicable, infectious diseases that get most of the attention in developing countries, the WHO report notes that non-infectious, chronic diseases are the leading cause of deaths worldwide.
Ala Alwan, the Assistant Director-General for noncommunicable diseases at WHO, is one of the authors of the report.
"Out of 58 million deaths occurring in the world every year, we have 35 millions caused by noncommunicable diseases; heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancers and chronic lung diseases which represent 60 percent of all global deaths," said Alwan. "And out of this, we have at least nine million people who are actually dying because of noncommunicable disease before the age of 60 years."
According to the WHO report, the leading contributors to chronic disease are high blood pressure, high blood glucose⁹, tobacco use, physical inactivity, and obesity¹⁰.
The billions of dollars being spent to treat these chronic illnesses are pushing millions of people in the developing world into poverty.
David Bloom, at the Harvard University School of Public Health, says the human and economic burden of noncommunicable diseases is immense.
"We are estimating [a cost of] newly diagnosed cancer cases of more than $300 billion in the year 2010. That's a global cost. We are estimating the annual global cost of illness from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on the order of $400 billion in 2010," added Bloom.
Dr. James Hospedales, a WHO expert on chronic disease, says the problem is much more widespread than many people know - not just in big countries like the United States, India and China - but in smaller countries such as Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. In those smaller nations, the public health costs of treating hypertension and diabetes have climbed to between five and eight percent of their gross domestic products.
"It's not sustainable," Hospedales added. "It will crush the health services in many countries if this continues. We cannot wait until we have dealt with HIV, dealt with malaria. Now, it's upon us.
Hospedales says simple diet and lifestyle changes can significantly lower risk factors for stroke, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases, such as asthma¹¹ and bronchitis.
"We estimate in WHO that over 30 million lives can be saved in the next ten years by simple measures - reducing the level of salt by 15 to 20 percent, reducing the [use] of tobacco and increasing the number of people who are at risk of a heart attack and stroke to be on simple preventive treatment," Hospedales noted¹². "Those three measures can save about 30 million lives in the next 10 years."
At the UN summit, world leaders hope to raise public awareness¹³ of the devastation¹⁴ that noncommunicable diseases have been causing across both developed and developing countries, and to discuss the best ways to reverse the rising death rates from these diseases.

1 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

4 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

5 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

6 debilitating   

a.使衰弱的

参考例句：

• The debilitating disease made him too weak to work. 这个令他衰弱的病，使他弱到没有办法工作。
• You may soon leave one debilitating condition or relationship forever. 你即将永远地和这段霉运说拜拜了。

7 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。

8 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。

9 glucose   

n.葡萄糖

参考例句：

• I gave him an extra dose of glucose to pep him up.我给他多注射了一剂葡萄糖以增强他的活力。
• The doctor injected glucose into his patient's veins.医生将葡萄糖注入病人的静脉。

10 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

11 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

12 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。

13 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

14 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》