VOA慢速英语2013 Using a Mobile Phone to Improve Mother and Child Health

 

Using a Mobile Phone to Improve Mother and Child Health

 

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report in Special English.

Different groups around the world are working to expand the uses for mobile technology in health care. Patricia Mechael is executive director of an organization called the mHealth Alliance.

"In the world, there are six billion mobile phone subscriptions¹ in a population of seven billion people. And the most rapidly growing markets are those in developing countries. Africa, as a continent, you have widespread adoption², where three or four years ago the penetration³ rates were 20 percent or 30 percent, and now they're getting upwards⁴ of 60 percent in some countries."

She says a lot of work is being done to use mobile technology for mother and child health.

"Earlier work had been to look at mobile technologies and HIV and AIDS. And so we have some great evidence on the use of mobile for things like treatment adherence⁵ and compliance⁶ and care management."

More than 4,000 people from 50 countries have been meeting near Washington this week. The meeting is the fourth annual mHealth Summit. It brings together experts from what the organizers call the mHealth ecosystem⁷. This includes nongovernmental organizations, governments and the technology industry.

In 2011 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched a public/private partnership⁸ called the Mobile Alliance for Maternal⁹ Action, or MAMA. It includes the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Johnson & Johnson company, the United Nations Foundation and the mHealth Alliance. Kirsten Gagnaire is the global director of MAMA.

"There's about 800 women a day globally, and about three million babies every year, that die from pregnancy¹⁰ and childbirth-related causes."

She says the MAMA program sends messages to mobile phones to educate women about their health.

"We have a set of messages that cover pregnancy and the first year of a baby's life."

She says health messages may also be sent to a pregnant woman's husband and mother-in-law, for example. That way they too can understand what needs to be done.

Patricia Mechael of the mHealth Alliance says messages can be text or voicemail.

"For example, you can have a pregnant woman in Bangladesh registered into a system that provides messages that are timed to her pregnancy that can help her know what to do, when to do certain things. And then when to go in for specific treatment issues, or prevention care like immunizations and that sort of thing."

Even simple text messages can be important sources of information to people without Internet access. And Kirsten Gagnaire of the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Health says even online users may not understand all the information available.

"You have to be able to read through thousands of entries that come back to you on Google, for example, and then figure out what that information means to you. And that's not something that someone in a poor, illiterate¹¹ or semi-literate kind of situation can do."

 

1 subscriptions   

n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助

参考例句：

• Subscriptions to these magazines can be paid in at the post office. 这些杂志的订阅费可以在邮局缴纳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Payment of subscriptions should be made to the club secretary. 会费应交给俱乐部秘书。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

3 penetration   

n.穿透，穿人，渗透

参考例句：

• He is a man of penetration.他是一个富有洞察力的人。
• Our aim is to achieve greater market penetration.我们的目标是进一步打入市场。

4 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

5 adherence   

n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着

参考例句：

• He was well known for his adherence to the rules.他因遵循这些规定而出名。
• The teacher demanded adherence to the rules.老师要求学生们遵守纪律。

6 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

7 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

8 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。

9 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。

10 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

11 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。