2006年VOA标准英语-High Risk of Epidemics in Flood-Stricken Horn o

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
08 December 2006

U.N. aid agencies are stepping up humanitarian¹ assistance to three flood-stricken countries in the Horn of Africa. The agencies are warning the risk of epidemics² breaking out in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia is very high. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva.

A Kenyan woman and her child walk in the rain in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya (File)

This is some of the worst flooding seen in the Horn of Africa for almost a decade. The United Nations estimates 1.5 million people have been directly affected³ by the continuing rains in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. It says that number could more than double by the end of the year.

The floods have caused hundreds of deaths, massive displacement⁴ and considerable damage to livelihoods⁵.

The World Health Organization warns the flooding is putting people's health at major risk. It says a combination of displacement, crowded living conditions, lack of clean, safe water and sanitation⁶ is putting up to 1.8 million people at risk of infectious diseases.

WHO Spokeswoman, Fadela Chaib, says life-threatening illnesses, especially diarrheal diseases, malaria⁷ and acute respiratory infections are of particular concern. She says cholera⁸ cases already have occurred. She says measles⁹ is a big killer¹⁰ of children and a large-scale immunization campaign will most likely be needed.

"The national measles vaccination¹¹ coverage¹² is really limited in the three countries. So, it is very important to have more than 80 percent vaccination among the population to avoid measles cases," she said. "If we do not have this coverage, we will likely have measles cases. And we have already had reported measles cases in Kenya."

Spokesman for the U.N. Children's Fund, Michael Bociurkiw says the water systems in the three flooded countries have been badly damaged. And, this is causing a lot of the health problems.

"You are seeing a lot of things like latrines being washed away. This causes more contamination of water systems. That is a very, very big part of our intervention¹³ to deal with water and sanitation problems," he said. "We are trucking in water. But, a lot of the roads have been washed out especially near the border with Kenya and Somalia."

In some places, Bociurkiw says the only way to bring in aid is by helicopter. He says boats and donkeys also are being used.

The U.N. refugee agency says it will start an emergency airdrop Friday of 240 tons of urgently needed relief supplies to thousands of refugees affected by the flooding in the Dadaab refugee camps in northern Kenya. This is being done with the help of a US military C-130 cargo¹⁴ plane. The UNHCR says 160,000 refugees in the camps, mainly from Somalia, have been cut off from aid for several weeks by the heavy rains.

Bociurkiw says the aid operation is very expensive and UNICEF urgently requires more than $24 million respond to the many needs.

1 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

2 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

5 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

6 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

7 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

8 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

9 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

10 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

11 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。

12 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。

13 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

14 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。