VOA常速英语2007年-UNICEF Begins Life-Saving Immunization Campaign

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
02 December 2007

The United Nations Children's Fund says it is beginning a week-long mass immunization campaign in war-torn Somalia on Sunday. UNICEF says volunteer health workers aim to immunize 100,000 children and women in camps for internally displaced people in southern Somalia. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

During the coming week, tens of thousands of children and women living in over 80 camps along the Mogadishu-Afgoye corridor, will receive a package of critical life saving interventions¹.

The U.N. Children's Fund says children under age five will receive measles², polio, diphtheria, tetanus and tuberculosis³ vaccines⁴. In addition, they will receive vitamin A, which helps boost their immunity⁵ against illness.

UNICEF says the weeklong campaign also targets women of reproductive age. About 56,000 will receive iron supplementation and tetanus toxoid immunization.

Hundreds of thousands of Somalis, who fled fighting in Mogadishu, have gone to the Afgoye region, about 30 kilometers south of the capital.

In an interview from Mogadishu, UNICEF Communication Officer, Misbah Sheikh, told VOA conditions under which the displaced people are living are appalling⁶.

"Many of the camps are overcrowded. There is a lot of potential for diseases and especially waterborne diseases. And in fact, in the past Somalia has seen outbreaks of cholera⁷ and, I believe, thousands of people have died," said Sheikh.

UNICEF says Somalia is one of the worst places on earth for children. It says one in eight children dies before age five, one in three is chronically⁸ malnourished, 30 percent of children go to school and life expectancy⁹ is 47 years on average.

Sheikh says 16 years of conflict have destroyed Somalia's health system. She says there are not enough trained doctors and nurses to provide essential services for the population.

She says recent data show targeted immunization campaigns, such as the one going on now, do make a difference in reducing the number of children who die each year from measles and polio.

"So, it is very important that people understand that in spite of whatever appears on the media on a daily basis, you know, the blood-letting and what not, there are wonderful things going on," said Sheikh. "There are latrines being constructed. There is water reaching people who need it. Children who are malnourished are getting treated, which is not to say we are reaching every child. There are lots of challenges and tremendous gaps."

Sheikh says this immunization campaign along the Afgoye Road is one of three that UNICEF and its partners will organize in the coming weeks. She says these campaigns have proven to be very cost effective.

She says UNICEF and the World Health Organization believe they can reach 3.5 million children and women in the next two years for as little as $15 per person per year.

1 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

4 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

5 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

6 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

7 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。

8 chronically   

ad.长期地

参考例句：

• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
• People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。

9 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。