The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warns diarrheal diseases, such as cholera, are on the rise and increasingly becoming a major cause of death throughout the world - especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The Red Cross says it is working closely with governments to step up an effective response to this emergency.
国际红十字与红新月会警告说，包括霍乱在内的腹泻性疾病，呈上升趋势并逐渐成为全世界死亡的一个主要原因，尤其是在撒哈拉以南的非洲地区。红十字会说，它正在与多国政府合作，加快对这个紧急状况做出有效的反应。
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says nearly one billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. Most of these people are in sub-Saharan Africa.
国际红十字与红新月会说，全球范围有将近10亿人缺乏安全的饮用水，其中大部分都在撒哈拉以南的非洲地区。
As a consequence, the Swiss humanitarian organization says diseases, which are preventable keep coming back and that many people are dying or becoming ill.
这个位于瑞士的人道组织说，由于这个因素，腹泻性疾病，虽然可以预防，却反复发生，导致许多人死亡或生病。
Red Cross statistics show that in 2007 and 2008, around 60 percent of all requests for assistance from its emergency fund were directly or indirectly related to outbreaks of acute diarrheal diseases. It notes that this is about 35 percent more compared to similar statistics in 2006.
红十字会的统计显示，在2007和2008年，在向红十字会提出给予紧急经费援助的所有要求中，大约60%直接或间接同急性腹泻性疾病有关。红十字会指出，和2006年类似的统计相比，这个数字增加约35%。
Red Cross Senior Water and Sanitation Officer Robert Fraser cites several key reasons for the rise in waterborne diseases.
红十字会负责水和卫生设施的高级官员弗雷泽提到几个经水传播疾病增加的一些主要原因。
"One is definitely the increasing and rapid urbanization and particularly in countries where the services - water and sanitation and hygiene promotion are poor, combined with the fact that we see erosion of health and care, support services from government and added to the increasing impact of climate change, particularly increasing severity of floods, food security issues and droughts," he said.
他说：“一个原因肯定是日益迅速发展的都市化，尤其是在那些水、卫生设施和卫生服务推广不足的国家。除此之外，我们看到政府提供的医疗保健和辅助服务的削减，然后就是气候变化的影响，尤其是日渐严重的水灾，粮食安全问题及旱灾等等。”
Fraser says these problems are exacerbated in countries that have political instability and conflict. He says acute problems of diarrhea and cholera increasingly are popping up in areas and countries, which previously were able to control them. A case in point, he notes, is Zimbabwe, where thousands of people have died from a cholera epidemic.
弗雷泽说，这些问题在一些政治不稳定和有政治冲突的国家更加恶化。他说，急性痢疾和霍乱的问题在许多原本可以控制这些疾病的地区和国家不断发生。他指出，一个典型的例子就是津巴布韦，那里已有数千人在霍乱疫情中丧生。
"We have to be better prepared to deal with the acute problems, such as the outbreak in Zimbabwe just now," Fraser said. "We have seven emergency teams, over 50 international staff and we have mobilized over one thousand local volunteers. So we are very much involved in the Zimbabwe response. The real answer to diarrheal disease is the medium to long-term and that is really the U.N. Millennium Development Goals in reducing by half at least the number of people without access to safe water and sanitation linked to low-cost and simple methodologies for hygiene promotion."
弗雷泽说：“我们必须做好充分的准备来处理这些严重的问题，例如津巴布韦现正在发生的霍乱疫情。我们有7个应急小组，超过50个国际工作人员，我们也动员了超过1000名当地的义工。所以我们积极参与了对津巴布韦疫情做出的反应。解决腹泻性疾病的真正办法是中长期规划，这就是联合国千年发展目标致力于实现的，将缺乏安全饮水和卫生设施的人口减少至少一半，而这只要低成本和简单的卫生宣传方法就能实现。”
The Red Cross says it is working closely with governments and humanitarian partners to step up an effective response and to increase the training of Red Cross volunteers worldwide.
红十字会说，它正在与多国政府和人道救援伙伴合作，加快对这个问题做出有效的反应，并增加对全世界红十字会义工的培训。
It says a principle aim of this program is to raise public awareness about what needs to be done to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases and, failing that, to effectively respond to outbreaks of disease.
红十字会说，这个项目的一个主要目标，是要提高大众对如何预防通过水传播的疾病的认识，如果做不到这一点，就不能有效地对疾病疫情的爆发做出反应。 |