Global Organizations Make Push for Vaccinations（在线收听） |
Pneumonia and diarrheal disease are the two leading killers of children in the developing world, killing more children each year than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. This week, people around the world are taking action to put an end to deaths from these preventable and treatable diseases in children and adults. The World Health Organization (WHO) is partnering with 170 of its 193 member countries to vaccinate people around the world and to spread awareness(意识明白) about the importance of vaccinations.
Spokesman for the World Health Organization’s Americas division (Pan American Health Organization) Dan Epstein says hundreds of thousands of people have already been vaccinated since events kicked off on Saturday.
"A main obstacle is when people don’t know their kids should be vaccinated or don't know that, for example, adults should be revaccinated against influenza. So awareness is one of the biggest obstacles we face," he said.
The Pan American Health Organization has a goal of vaccinating 41 million people in the Americas from April 23 to April 30. Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean region also are participating. And Africa and the Western Pacific region are both holding their first-ever immunization week.
Epstein says the Americas lead the world in vaccinations, having been the first to eliminate smallpox in 1971 and polio in 1991. But he says there are still many hard-to-reach places, along borders and in rural areas, where the preventable diseases are still widespread.
Dr. Keith Van Zandt and his wife, Dede, personally understand the risk of not vaccinating young children. They adopted their daughter, Annie, from Romania 16 years ago. They did not even get Annie home to the United States before they discovered she had contracted Hepatitis B from her birth mother.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑） |
| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/guide/news/143977.html |