VOA常速英语2007年-UN Official Calls Maternal Mortality Rate in In

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
03 December 2007

A U.N. representative says more women in India die during pregnancy¹ or childbirth than in any other country in the world. The U.N. official says India must improve its public health system to cut the rate of maternal² mortality. From New Delhi, Anjana Pasricha has this report.

India accounts for 20 percent of the world's maternal deaths, with a woman dying every five minutes.

The U.N.'s Paul Hunt says the rate of maternal deaths is "shocking" for a middle income country, and many times higher than in other countries.

"Why is the Indian rate six times worse than **'s, eight times worse than Cuba's, whose people have been living under an embargo³ for some decades? And why is it 14 times worse than Chile's?" he said.

Hunt spoke⁴ to reporters in New Delhi after visiting two states, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, to assess the state of maternal health in India.

He says the government has taken steps to reduce maternal mortality, and the numbers are declining, but still remain "alarming."

The U.N. official says one of the reasons for the high maternal mortality is what he calls the "massive crippling crisis in India's health workforce⁵."

He says most of India's one and a half million health practitioners⁶ are in the private sector⁷. As a result, life saving care is often unavailable to women giving birth, particularly in rural areas.

"It is clear than some public sector health facilities are grossly inadequate⁸, dilapidated, ill-equipped, understaffed and offer extremely poor services," added Hunt. "If you are about to deliver a baby, they must be among the last places you would wish to go."

He says the government has doubled the funds allotted⁹ to the public health sector, but health budgets sometimes remain unutilized.

The U.N. official says the government should establish autonomous¹⁰ commissions to regulate the public and private health sectors¹¹ to ensure better services.

The U.N. has set a target of reducing maternal deaths by 75 percent from levels in 1990. About half a million women die every year in childbirth or pregnancy - most of those deaths are preventable.

1 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。

2 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。

3 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

6 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

7 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

8 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

9 allotted   

分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I completed the test within the time allotted . 我在限定的时间内完成了试验。
• Each passenger slept on the berth allotted to him. 每个旅客都睡在分配给他的铺位上。

10 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

11 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》