VOA标准英语2015--Giving Kids Equal Chance at Survival

 

Giving Kids Equal Chance at Survival

A new report says too often a child’s survival depends on place of birth, parents’ income and ethnicity. Save the Children calls it an unfair lottery¹ of birth that violates every child’s right to an equal start in life.

Save the Children CEO Carolyn Miles said, in many countries, a child’s survival is a matter of chance.

“We looked at the implications of child survival across 87 countries actually in this report. And what we found was the most deprived kids – those in sometimes rural areas or at the bottom

of the socio-economic ladder – those were the children that were dying at the highest rates.”

The report, The Lottery of Birth, saID, “In 78 percent of the countries studied, at least one social or economic group…is being left behind.” In 16 percent of the countries, the report found “inequalities in children’s survival chances increased across all the groups” for which data was collected. But the report said there are countries already trying to close the equality gap.

Miles said, “When they did that – when they actually made parity² between, for example, the poorest and the wealthiest kids – they actually dropped [the] mortality rate faster. We need to worry about the most deprived kids. And actually when we do that our progress on something like child survival can actually be faster. So that’s the real nut of this report.”

Much progress has been made over the years in reducing child mortality rates. Save the Children says, currently, 17,000 fewer children die every day compared to 1990. And the under-five child mortality rate has been cut nearly in half.

But Miles said that many children still don’t have an equal chance to survive. The worst child inequality is found in sub-Saharan Africa. She said focusing on the “most deprived kids” levels the playing field.

“Rwanda is a really good example -- Malawi, another good example – where governments have really focused on the poorest, the hardest to reach kids. They’ve made great progress on dropping child mortality. So, saving more kids lives. And they’ve closed that equity³ gap.”

She said giving all children an equal chance to survive should be part of the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs will replace the Millennium⁴ Development Goals that expire at the end of this year. She said that the goals should focus on programs known to boost a child’s chances of survival.

“Common diseases are still killing⁵ many kids in the developing world. So vaccination⁶ campaigns that actually reach some of these hard to reach areas. They might be in the rural areas. They might be in deep urban slums. But making sure that when we do vaccination campaigns we’re looking at reaching every child. So that’s one example. Under nutrition is a big factor in child mortality. And so making sure that those nutrition programs again are getting to all children,” she said.

The Save the Children report encourages governments to spend their own money on child survival programs and not simply rely on donors⁷.

Miles said, “We have seen real progress in places like Ethiopia, for example, where the government has made a huge commitment to child survival. And they have funded tens of thousands of community health workers to be in villages and towns where the health system doesn’t get to. And it’s resulted in much, much better child survival rates in Ethiopia, for example.”

The report recommends Universal Health Coverage⁸ to “ensure that poor and marginalized groups have access to quality services.” Save the Children said its “ultimate vision is a world in which no child dies from preventable diseases, no matter where they are born or who their parents are.” 

1 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

2 parity   

n.平价，等价，比价，对等

参考例句：

• The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
• Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。

3 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

4 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

7 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》

8 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。