DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Maternal Deaths Study

DEVELOPMENT REPORT
–
July 22, 2002: Maternal¹ Deaths Study

By Jill Moss²

This is Bill White with the VOA Special English Development Report.

Each year, more than five-hundred-thousand women in developing countries die while giving birth to babies. One
of the causes for many of these deaths is a condition called pre-eclampsia. Up to eight percent of all pregnant³
women around the world develop this condition. Signs of pre -eclampsia include high blood pressure and protein
in the fluid waste from a woman’s body.

If the condition is not identified and treated, pre-eclampsia can quickly progress to a severe
condition called eclampsia. This condition can result in death for the mother if it is not treated.
Researchers estimate fifty-thousand women in mostly poor countries die of eclampsia each
year.

Scientists say that a simple drug called magnesium⁴ sulphate can treat pre-eclampsia.
Researchers recently studied the effects of the drug on more than ten-thousand pregnant
women living in thirty-three countries. All the women were being treated in hospitals for preeclampsia.
The researchers gave half the women injections of magnesium sulphate. The other
women were given an injection of an inactive substance, known as a placebo⁵.

Scientists found that magnesium sulphate stopped the progression to eclampsia in fifty-eight percent of the
women. They say the drug also probably reduced the risk of death among the women who received it. A
researcher at the Institute for Health at Oxford⁶ University in Britain organized the study. The results were
published last month in The Lancet.

Scientists do not know what causes pre -eclampsia. However, doctors say women with high blood pressure or
those pregnant for the first time are most at risk. Women who are very young or very old at the time they become
pregnant are also more at risk.

Women in the United States with pre -eclampsia have been treated with magnesium sulphate for many years. The
drug does not cost much money. However, women with the condition must receive the drug by injection while in
a hospital. The drug does not work if it is swallowed.

Researchers hope the World Health Organization will press drug companies to produce more magnesium
sulphate. Then there would be enough of the drug for the countries that need it. Experts say this would save the
lives of thousands of women every year.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. This is Bill White.

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1 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

2 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

3 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

4 magnesium   

n.镁

参考例句：

• Magnesium is the nutrient element in plant growth.镁是植物生长的营养要素。
• The water contains high amounts of magnesium.这水含有大量的镁。

5 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

6 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。