VOA标准英语2010年-Maternal Mortality Remains Serious Thr

Worldwide, giving birth is far less dangerous than it was even two decades ago.  A new report shows that maternal¹ mortality, however, remains² a serious threat - even in wealthy, industrialized nations.

 

A report released by New York City's health department says the percentage of women who die in pregnancy³ and childbirth in the New York metro⁴ area is double that of the national average.  Health officials in New York say the maternal mortality rate in the United States itself rivals that of poorer developed countries like Singapore and Ireland.

 

Dr. Jo Boufford, president of the New York Academy of Medicine, which sponsored the maternal mortality conference where the report was released, says the developed and the developing worlds tend to promote different strategies to fight maternal death.  And she says while both approaches have merits, each alone is only partially⁵ effective.    

"The difference is the developing countries have focused on public health, prevention and primary and prenatal care in the area of maternal mortality," says Boufford.  "And their struggle and barrier is having an adequate health workforce⁶ and facilities for the kind of high-tech⁷ things that happen to mothers that are at risk …"

In contrast, Boufford says developed nations have excellent medical technology.

"But we have a rather poorly developed system of good primary care and prenatal care," she continues.  "And our problem is connecting the prenatal care with the delivery site, making sure the information about a patient travels with that patient when they go into labor⁸ and go to the hospital.  So we can deal with the high-tech and the crisis.  Our problem is we're not focusing upstream on the prevention and the primary care, and the developing countries are just the opposite."

Maternal mortality in America is particularly high in New York City, where extremes of wealth and poverty abound⁹, says Deborah Kaplan, who oversees¹⁰ the Bureau of Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health for New York City's health department.  The department analyzed¹¹ the causes of 161 maternal deaths in New York between 2001 and 2005. The study found that half the women who died were obese¹² and that 56 percent had a chronic¹³ illness, such as high blood pressure, heart disease or asthma¹⁴.  Black women were seven times more likely to suffer a pregnancy-related death compared to white women.

"And we think the issue for black women is they are more likely to be obese and have chronic illnesses, like high blood pressure, which put you at higher risk for complications during pregnancy," says Kaplan.  "Black women, who are more likely to be uninsured, are living in communities where there is limited access to the healthy foods and exercise and activity that is necessary from childhood on to reduce the likelihood of obesity¹⁵ and chronic illnesses."

Kaplan's agency is redoubling its efforts to identify obese women early in their pregnancies¹⁶ and to make sure their health care providers treat them as high-risk patients.  It also is issuing health alerts to hospital delivery wards¹⁷ to diminish the risk of death in childbirth due to hemorrhage, which is more likely among obese moms.

"We recommended hemorrhage drills just like fire drills.  For an event that doesn't happen very often, people need to practice. That's on the clinical end.  On the bigger environmental end, our agency is involved in many areas related to obesity prevention that look at increasing access to healthy foods in the community.  It's about raising awareness¹⁸ and engaging people in the community so that they are part of this work, so they can prevent obesity and chronic illness that can lead to maternal death," says Kaplan.

To promote change at the grassroots level, the city is building coalitions¹⁹ that bring together community and government agencies. It also is encouraging leaders at faith-based communities to educate their congregations about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

"We work to promote breast feeding to prevent childhood obesity, which is where it all begins in terms of child health," says Kaplan.  "We work with schools to get unhealthy foods out of the schools and … promote health foods within the school environment. And we work with parents and community residents to really understand why this is so important, and for them to hopefully demand these healthy foods and places to exercise in their own communities."

Dr. Boufford says that the medical community also must examine its practices.  For example, there may be a correlation²⁰ between maternal mortality and Caesarean births, or so-called "C-Sections," which are performed in nearly half of all deliveries in some New York hospitals.  The report, released Friday, found that 79 percent of New York women who died in childbirth had undergone the procedure.

"Now, that may be because they are sicker and they needed it, and C-Sections certainly save lives," says Boufford.  "There is no question about that. But we need to understand much more about that.  And I think the comfort with technology may have gotten ahead of what may be the best in terms of the management of the patient." 

Government health departments nationwide are studying new strategies to protect maternal and child health, such as those outlined by the United Nations Millennium²¹ Goals, which calls for education, economic development and community empowerment to save lives and eliminate preventable suffering.

 
 

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 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 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。

4 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

5 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

6 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。

7 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 abound   

vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于

参考例句：

• Oranges abound here all the year round.这里一年到头都有很多橙子。
• But problems abound in the management of State-owned companies.但是在国有企业的管理中仍然存在不少问题。

10 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

11 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

13 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

14 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

15 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

16 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

17 wards   

区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态

参考例句：

• This hospital has 20 medical [surgical] wards. 这所医院有 20 个内科[外科]病房。
• It was a big constituency divided into three wards. 这是一个大选区，下设三个分区。

18 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

19 coalitions   

结合体，同盟( coalition的名词复数 )； （两党或多党）联合政府

参考例句：

• History testifies to the ineptitude of coalitions in waging war. 历史昭示我们，多数国家联合作战，其进行甚为困难。
• All the coalitions in history have disintegrated sooner or later. 历史上任何联盟迟早都垮台了。

20 correlation   

n.相互关系，相关，关连

参考例句：

• The second group of measurements had a high correlation with the first.第二组测量数据与第一组高度相关。
• A high correlation exists in America between education and economic position.教育和经济地位在美国有极密切的关系。

21 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。