2015年CRI African Officials Applaud Chinese Pharmacologist's Winning Nobel Prize for Medicine

 

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, Regional Director of the World Health Organization's Africa Region, says Tu Youyou's development of a treatment for malaria¹ has been a life-saver.

"As you know Malaria is one of the biggest killers² of African people, particularly African children. As we were discussing the Millennium³ Goals last week in New York at the UN general assembly, it was acknowledged that African countries have made tremendous progress in reducing child deaths, especially in the last ten years. And it's my belief that this discovery and the access to this treatment made a huge contribution to reducing the deaths of African children and also pregnant mothers."

Inspired by Chinese traditional medicine, pharmacologist Tu Youyou and her team discovered an anti-malarial agent in the plant Artemisia annua back in the 1960s.

Her research eventually led to the isolation⁴ of artemisinin, or Qinghaosu in Chinese, which is now used widely as an anti-malaria drug.

The fourth generation of the drug, which was developed by the Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, was in the small island-nation of Comoros in 2007.

In just three months, the drug lowered the rate of malaria infections by 98.7 percent.

Professor Song Jianping with the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine says the drug has revolutionized malaria treatment.

"We want to help Africa find a quick solution to eradicate⁵ Malaria, and not just just a cure for the disease. If you treat one patient without removing the source of the infection, the treatment is not effective. So we have made adjustments to the treatment: from individual treatment to mass prevention, from killing⁶ asexual plasmodium parasite⁷ to killing both the asexual and sexual parasites⁸."

Comoros vice-President Fouad Mohadji says he knows first-hand how well the Chinese-produced treatment can work.

"Three members of my family had malaria. Every month people get hospitalized for malaria and it will cost at least 60 euros a month. Since 2007, our country started an anti-malarial program using artemisinin and the prevalence rate has dropped significantly. The program cut hospitalization rate for every household member from 42 percent to zero. This is a great achievement in public health as well as social development."

Malaria is still a major public health problem.

It's estimated some 430-thousand people around the world die every year from the mosquito-borne virus.

90-percent of those deaths occur in Africa.

However, Chinese researchers are hoping the development of drugs through Tu Youyou's research will eventually bring that number to zero.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.

1 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。

2 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

3 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。

4 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

5 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

8 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。