VOA慢速英语2014 The Peace Corps: Stomping Out Malaria in Africa 美国和平队帮助非洲消除疟疾（在线收听）

The Peace Corps: Stomping Out Malaria in Africa 美国和平队帮助非洲消除疟疾 

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。

Even though Malaria can be both prevented and treated, the disease is the third biggest killer of children in the world. Malaria is caused by bites from insects called mosquitoes. People who sleep in beds covered by special nets are less likely to be infected. When the nets are used correctly, they prevent the flying insects from biting people as they sleep.

尽管疟疾既能预防又能治疗，它仍然是全球儿童的第三大杀手。疟疾是由蚊虫叮咬引发。人们睡在特制蚊帐里就不容易被感染。当这些蚊帐被正确使用时，它们就能防止人们在睡着时被飞虫叮咬。

Susan Eckhart is a Peace Corps volunteer in the Western African country of Burkina Faso. Malaria is responsible for about 9,000 deaths there every year.

苏珊·艾克哈特（Susan Eckhart）是美国和平队在西非国家布基纳法索的志愿者。每年这里有大约9000人因为疟疾去世。

"Malaria is everywhere. People live with it just as we live with a common cold. They blame everything on Malaria. They are not aware of how it is transmitted. They have become reliant on treatment better than prevention."

艾克哈特说，“疟疾无处不在。人们对待它就像我们对待普通感冒一样。他们把一切问题都归咎于疟疾。他们不知道疟疾是怎么传播的。他们更依赖治疗而不是预防。”

As soon as someone reports a high body temperature, they are given medicine to treat Malaria. Ms Eckhart says Malaria medicine is used at the first sign of sickness because it costs less than the test to identify the disease. There is a lot of misunderstanding about Malaria and a lack of good information.

只要有人报告高烧，他们就给他服用治疗疟疾的药物。艾克哈特女士说，人们一有生病迹象就服用疟疾药物，这是因为它的成本低于确诊的检测费用。关于疟疾有很多误解，也缺乏有效信息。

"They do get a lot of information about illnesses that confuse them all, so they are not sure if they are talking about Cholera or Malaria or AIDS."

艾克哈特说，“人们获得了大量让他们混淆的疾病有关信息，所以他们不知道说的究竟是霍乱、疟疾还是癌症。”

In 2011, the Peace Corps launched Stomp Out Malaria in Africa. Peace Corps volunteers are trained so they can be directly involved in education to prevent Malaria. Ms Eckhart is one of the volunteers who presents lessons in fun ways that will help the children remember.

2011年，美国和平队在非洲推出了消除疟疾项目（Stomp Out Malaria）。和平队志愿者们受过培训，这样他们就能直接参与预防疟疾的教育活动。艾克哈特女士就是志愿者之一，她介绍了以有趣方式帮助孩子记忆的经验。

"The one with most fun was a tag game where two kids play the roles of mosquitoes and if they tagged someone, that person became infected and had to sit down."

艾克哈特说，“最有趣的是追拍游戏，两个孩子扮演蚊子的角色，如果他们拍到了谁，谁就被感染了，必须坐下来。”

Susan Eckhart teaches students from first grade through fifth grade. Older children who had attended a leadership camp came to help with the games. The older children also translated the Malaria information into the local Dagara language.

艾克哈特教1到5年级的学生。参加过领袖训练营的大孩子前来帮助玩这个游戏。这些大孩子还将疟疾信息翻译成当地的Dagara语。

"One of our volunteers wrote a very good song to the tone of 'We will, We will rock you', as the hint came out is - we can stop malaria with stomping and clapping. And the kids just love it."

艾克哈特说，“我们的一个志愿者写了一首很棒的歌，它是这样唱的‘We will, We will rock you’，暗示我们可以用娱乐的方式来消除疟疾，孩子们都很喜欢它。”

Children also acted in short plays and wrote and sang songs about malaria.

孩子们还演出了关于疟疾的短剧，并创作和演唱了关于疟疾的歌曲。

"We are living in the villages with the villagers, and we can introduce these subjects, you know, in a casual conversation of a calabash of the local beer."

艾克哈特说，“我们和村民一起生活在村庄里。我们就能在喝着当地啤酒的轻松谈话中引出这些话题。”

It is too soon to tell how much of the important information in the songs and games it shared with families. But Susan Eckhart says using Peace Corps volunteers to spread the word on preventing Malaria is a good idea. Being part of the community means sharing knowledge, she adds, especially about something as important as Malaria.

现在讨论这些歌曲和游戏给他们的家人带去了多少重要信息尚为时过早。但艾克哈特表示，借助和平队志愿者传播疟疾预防信息是一个好主意。她补充说，作为社区的一部分就意味着分享知识，特别是一些和疟疾同等重要的相关知识。