2007年VOA标准英语-Private US Group Puts Up $100 Million to Stream

By Barbara Schoetzau
Washington
28 September 2007

A private U.S. foundation has launched a $100 million initiative to strengthen health systems in Africa. From VOA's New York Bureau, correspondent Barbara Schoetzau reports the initiative will support partnerships² in nine African nations.

The African Health Initiative, launched by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, is designed to specifically address the difficulty of delivering health care in Africa.

 

The foundation was set up in 1996 by the will of the late tobacco heiress Doris Duke. Joan Spero, the foundation's president, says governments, businesses and international organizations are responding to the health crisis in Africa by providing resources, developing new treatment and making drugs more readily available. But Spero says the continent's weak health systems and a staggering deficiency of health workers are compromising the ability to deliver care.

"Organizations and governments are trying to deliver new treatments and vaccines³ through broken or non-existent health systems. All the new discoveries and funds simply cannot be delivered on this broken distribution system. We have concluded that health systems need to be fixed⁴. The experts and officials that we consulted encouraged us to develop an initiative that would take a systematic⁵ approach to the strengthening health systems and not to try to develop entirely⁶ new health care delivery systems but to build on and strengthen the many efforts that are already in place in Africa," she said.

The Initiative will support the creation of six large scale partnerships designed to provide integrated primary health care and achieve measurable health improvements for underserved communities of at least 250,000 people. Each partnership¹ will be funded for five to seven years at levels ranging from $8 million to $20 million. The Foundation hopes these partnerships will serve as models for others throughout the continent.

Nigeria-based Adetokunbo Lucas is the founding director of the World Health Organization's Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases and a professor of international health at Harvard University. He says the Initiative comes at a propitious⁷ time.

"A lot of initiatives are directed as Africa now. But one area that most donors⁸ have shied away from is how to improve the health systems. They know that it is important, but there is always this concern that it is a bottomless pit and will be very, very difficult to show impact," he said.

The foundation seeks to work with organizations already on the ground: local hospitals, governments, health groups, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations in nine nations: Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia. Foundation staff members say the choices were made after discussions with experts to identify nations that had both a significant need and interesting projects already under way that the Initiative could build upon.

The foundation announced the African Health Initiative at the annual Clinton Global Initiative, founded by President Bill Clinton to address the world's most pressing problems.

1 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。

2 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

3 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。

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 propitious   

adj.吉利的；顺利的

参考例句：

• The circumstances were not propitious for further expansion of the company.这些情况不利于公司的进一步发展。
• The cool days during this week are propitious for out trip.这种凉爽的天气对我们的行程很有好处。

8 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》