VOA标准英语2011--Doctor Fights Cervical Cancer in Develop

Doctor Fights Cervical Cancer in Developing Countries

Cervical cancer is the second deadliest cancer - after breast cancer - among women in developing countries. Eight hundred women die of cervical cancer every day, nearly 300,000 each year worldwide.
California gynecologist Kay Taylor is out to change those numbers. She's already saved thousands of women in Latin America, Africa and India.
Six years ago, Taylor gave up a successful medical practice in the San Francisco Bay Area to start the non-profit organization Prevention International: No Cervical Cancer. PINCC, pronounced “pink,” operates out of Taylor’s house in Oakland, California.
The bedrooms have been converted to office space and her living room is overflowing¹ with medical supplies and equipment.
Screening women
Taylor is getting ready for her next visit to Africa, where she and a medical team will visit rural villages in Uganda and Kenya to screen hundreds of women for the human papilloma virus. HPV, the most common sexually transmitted disease, has been linked to the development of cervical cancer.
Taylor first realized the magnitude of the problem during a visit to assist abused women in Honduras in 2003.
“I found three cases of cervical cancer in that two-week visit. I’d seen three cases of cervical cancer in my 25-year practice, so I was stunned," she says. "And I started to do some research and discovered that it is so high in these countries, just as if they hadn’t invented the Pap smear², which is what we use to control it here.”
By examining cells from a woman's cervix on a Pap smear, HPV infections can be quickly identified and treated. But for most poor women in developing countries, these exams are often inaccessible³ and unaffordable. Taylor was determined⁵ to find a cost-effective way to bring free medical care to these women.
See and treat
“I remember sitting in my office doing a screening for the abnormal cells and treating this woman and thinking, 'You know, I could put all this equipment in a suitcase and I could take it there and teach doctors and nurses to do this new method that had just been discovered and proven and which allows us to see and treat the condition in one visit.' And that was sort of my 'aha' moment. This wonderful method has now been discovered. It can be used in these countries and taught and doesn’t cost a lot of money. Why not go there and teach it?”
On a visit to Kenya two years ago, Taylor taught local doctors and nurses the so-called ‘see and treat’ technique - screening a woman for HPV, doing a biopsy, and removing cancerous cells - in a single visit to the clinic.
“We go to give training and equipment and establish a sustainable program that will continue to give this service after we’re gone. You can’t learn this in a few days. I didn’t learn it in a few days," she says. "I learned it in a few years as a gynecologist-resident. So it takes time and experience and proctoring. We go back every six months until the groups are well trained, confident and competent.”
Expanding the program
Nurse practitioner⁶ Cheryl Brown is getting final instructions from PINCC staff before leaving for Uganda with Taylor. Like most team members, Brown is a volunteer, who has paid her own way to Latin America for medical site visits. This will be her third trip with PINCC and her first to Africa.
“Many of us, as volunteers, are returnees," Brown says. "It’s so inspirational to be able to see how effective the technique is and how enthusiastic the trainees⁷ are about learning the technique and then employing it themselves when we’re not there.”
Since its first visit to Honduras in 2005, PINCC has expanded its program to seven countries. Taylor and her teams have set up 30 medical sites which screen and treat thousands of women annually⁸.
Six more sites will open in 2012. PINCC volunteers now travel six times a year - to Africa, Latin America, and India - treating an average of 2,500 women per visit.
Taylor estimates that, overall, PINCC has touched the lives of 50,000 women, yet she feels the need to do more.
“That’s what happens every time I go on one of these trips. I get tired and so on. I’m no youngster. I’m 68 almost," she says. "But every time I go, it stimulates⁹ me to want to keep going and come back and open new programs because I see these women whose lives are saved. They could have died if it weren’t for us.”
Cervical cancer is still far from being conquered. Taylor notes that vaccines¹⁰ are being developed and may become available - and affordable⁴ - in 25 years.
And she has another goal where the disease is concerned; she hopes she'll be around to see cervical cancer wiped out for good.

1 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

2 smear   

v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
• There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。

3 inaccessible   

adj.达不到的，难接近的

参考例句：

• This novel seems to me among the most inaccessible.这本书对我来说是最难懂的小说之一。
• The top of Mount Everest is the most inaccessible place in the world.珠穆朗玛峰是世界上最难到达的地方。

4 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

5 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

6 practitioner   

n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者

参考例句：

• He is an unqualified practitioner of law.他是个无资格的律师。
• She was a medical practitioner before she entered politics.从政前她是个开业医生。

7 trainees   

新兵( trainee的名词复数 )； 练习生； 接受训练的人； 训练中的动物

参考例句：

• We've taken on our full complement of new trainees. 我们招收的新学员已经满额了。
• The trainees were put through an assault course. 受训人员接受了突击训练课程。

8 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

9 stimulates   

v.刺激( stimulate的第三人称单数 )；激励；使兴奋；起兴奋作用，起刺激作用，起促进作用

参考例句：

• Exercise stimulates the body. 运动促进身体健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Alcohol stimulates the action of the heart. 酒刺激心脏的活动。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。