环球英语 — 235：Health Care Crisis

Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight¹ program. I’m Joshua Leo.

Voice 2
And I’m Rebekah Schipper. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

Voice 3
“I am excited about coming back, seeing my family and friends, eating Malawian food and seeing what has changed in the two years since I left. But I am worried about visiting the hospital.”

Voice 1
Today’s Spotlight is on a serious problem that faces our world today—the lack of health care workers.

Voice 2
Mary Ntata is from the country of Malawi, in Africa. She is a nurse. She trained to be a health care worker in the United Kingdom. After finishing her education Mary stayed in the UK to work. She travelled back to Malawi to see what the conditions are like for Malawian nurses.

Voice 1
Poor wages has resulted in shortages³ of nurses in Malawi. Many health care conditions are very poor. Here are some of Mary’s thoughts during her visit back to Malawi.

Voice 3
“We went to the main hospital in Lilongwe today. I followed a nurse named Khetase past a long line of women and children. We went to the children’s ward⁴, the children’s part of the hospital. I was shocked by what I saw. The ward was dirty. The ward was so full with child patients and their guardians⁵.

Many of the children shared a bed with another patient. This is on a ward where the children are seriously sick! One boy, Godfrey, lay very still on the floor with his head on his grandmother’s knee. He had acute⁶ diarrhoea. In the UK he would probably be on a drip. The drip would put fluids back into his body. But here there was not even a bed for him.

Another nurse, named Christine, took me to the women’s medical ward. All the beds were full. Women filled every area both inside and outside of the rooms. The women outside had to struggle against sickness and the weather, especially in the rainy season.

Nurse Christine was giving injections of medicine without wearing protective hand coverings. This was on a ward where at least thirty [30] percent of the patients have HIV. Christine only uses hand coverings with patients who have a highly infectious⁷ disease. She understands the risks to her own health. But she tries not to think about that. She feels it is her job to ease the suffering of the patients.

I visited a nursing college to meet people training to be nurses. Most of the students told me that they planned to work in the government hospitals when they finished school. But the students knew that the pay might not meet all of their needs.

The leader of the college told me that they only produce sixty [60] nurses each year. With more money they could produce more. But there is no money.

Nurse shortages are even worse than I expected. I saw how hard the nurses must work. They lack many medical resources. It is hard to understand how they can continue working. But they show a lot of spirit and commitment in almost impossible work situations.

Coming back to Malawi has made me understand how much this country needs my skills. It has made me firmly feel like I need to come back to help my people.”

Voice 2
The world is facing a serious lack of health care workers. This is not just a problem in Malawi. It is a problem that affects many parts of the world. However, the problem is greatest in countries with extreme poverty. These areas struggle the most against disease.

Voice 1
The World Health Organization, or the WHO, has a new report about the lack of health workers. According to the WHO, the world lacks four million [4,000,000] health workers. There are fifty–seven [57] countries that have a serious lack of health workers. Thirty–six [36] of those countries are in sub–Saharan Africa.

Voice 2
The WHO believes that the lack of health workers affects many areas of health care. Children are not receiving important vaccinations⁸. They are not protected from disease. Women are not receiving good pregnancy⁹ care. Many women and children die during child birth. Diseases like HIV cannot be treated. And many people do not receive any health care at all. The WHO reports that over one billion [1,000,000,000] people worldwide lack even the simplest health care because there is no health worker present.

Voice 1
Developing countries face an even greater challenge. They lack good health care and health care workers. And, they also lose many of their trained health workers to other, more developed countries. These countries can offer the workers better pay. Often, the workers feel that moving to another country will give them a better life. Developed countries lack health workers too. They readily¹⁰ accept workers from other countries. However, this leaves developing countries facing a serious health crisis¹¹.

Voice 2
The WHO has developed a plan to aid this crisis. First, the organization believes that each country needs to improve health care. All countries need to educate and employ more health care workers. The WHO believes that there must be a greater number of health workers balancing the number of patients. Evidence shows that having more health workers helps in the survival¹² of babies, children, and mothers.

Voice 1
Health care workers must have support from the government to succeed. So, the WHO urges national leaders to create plans to help their health systems. And developing countries need to receive support for their plans from international aid groups.

Voice 2
The WHO hopes that countries will invest more into their own health care systems. This is especially important for the fifty–seven [57] countries with the biggest shortage² of workers. Countries should increase the amount of money for their health care systems.

Voice 1
Second, the WHO wants developed countries to create new policies. The policies would not let developed countries seek health workers from developing countries. The WHO’s report asks that Western countries stop taking health care workers away from developing countries.

Voice 2
The WHO believes that their plan could work. Following this plan, the crisis could be over within twenty [20] years.

Voice 1
At the beginning of this program we talked about Mary’s visit to Malawi. She now understands that Malawi needs her skills. She can help the health care crisis there. Your country needs you too. Support your health care system. Ask your leaders to make health care a main concern.

Voice 2
Health care is a human right. Help make it a right for everyone.

 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

3 shortages   

n.不足( shortage的名词复数 )；缺少；缺少量；不足额

参考例句：

• Food shortages often occur in time of war. 在战争期间常常发生粮食短缺的情形。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• At the same time, worldwide food and fuel shortages eased. 同时，世界性粮食和石油短缺的现象终止了。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

4 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

5 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

6 acute   

adj.严重的，激烈的，敏锐的，急性的，尖的

参考例句：

• A period of acute depression can sometimes follow childbirth.分娩之后可能会有一段时间的急性抑郁期。
• The publication comes as the answer to an acute demand.这一出版物是为满足急需而出版的。

7 infectious   

adj.传染的，有传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。
• What an infectious laugh she has!她的笑声多么具有感染力啊！

8 vaccinations   

n.种痘，接种( vaccination的名词复数 )；牛痘疤

参考例句：

• Vaccinations ensure one against diseases. 接种疫苗可以预防疾病。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I read some publicity about vaccinations while waiting my turn at the doctor's. 在医生那儿候诊时，我读了一些关于接种疫苗的宣传。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

10 readily   

adv.欣然地，容易地，很快地，立即

参考例句：

• I promise all costs will be readily returned.我保证所有的费用会迅速偿还。
• Most plastics do not readily conduct heat or electricity.大多数塑料不易传热或导电。

11 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

12 survival   

n.留住生命，生存，残存，幸存者

参考例句：

• The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子，说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
• The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。