VOA慢速英语 2007 0307a

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.


A boy waits to be tested for malaria¹ in Mozambique in 2000

Malaria infects as many as five hundred million people worldwide each year and kills more than one million of them. The ones who die are mostly children in southern Africa -- another one every thirty seconds, says the World Health Organization.

Malaria drugs have been available for many years. Until now, however, they have been costly² for the poor and not very easy to give to children.

But last week a big drug company and an international campaign announced a new antimalarial that is low cost and easy to take. The drug maker³ Sanofi-Aventis of France is working in partnership⁴ with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative.

The new product is called A-S-A-Q. It combines what experts say are two of the best drugs for malaria: artesunate and amodiaquine. Officials say ASAQ will soon be available throughout Africa south of the Sahara.

Combinations of drugs are used to treat diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis⁵. This is because it is easier for organisms to develop resistance to a single drug.

Current malaria treatments require adults to take as many as eight pills a day. And they often have to divide pills to administer a smaller amount to children.

ASAQ combines the medicines into one daily pill for children and two pills for adults. The medicine is taken for three days. Doctors say the simpler the treatment, the more likely people are to take their medicine.

Sanofi-Aventis has promised to sell ASAQ on a no profit-no loss basis to the poorest patients. The full treatment cost for older children and adults will be less than a dollar. The cost for a child under the age of five will be less than half a dollar.

Sanofi-Aventis has also made an unusual decision not to seek patent protections for ASAQ. That means other companies are free to make their own versions to sell at even lower prices.

Five organizations including the French group Medecins Sans Frontieres, Doctors Without Borders, established the initiative four years ago. The aim is to work with major drug companies to create low-cost drugs for diseases that are common in poor countries. ASAQ is the first product to be launched.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver⁶. Our reports are online with transcripts⁷ at www.unsv.com. I'm Barbara Klein.

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 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

3 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

4 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

5 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。

6 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

7 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句