VOA常速英语2016--推进卫生安全需各国共同携手（在线收听）

The world is getting smaller. And as ever more people travel across continents, an infectious disease threat anywhere can be a threat everywhere. In today's interconnected world, a pathogen can travel around the globe to major cities in as little as 36 hours. This means that when a deadly disease, such as the avian flu for example, emerges from a rural location where people and animals live in close contact, it can quickly move to cities, and from there be carried around the world within hours. In densely populated areas, one or two carriers of a highly infectious disease can cause a pandemic or even an epidemic within days.

Prevention is the first line of defense against deadly diseases. To defeat potential outbreaks should they emerge, it is crucial that the world community is capable of quickly detecting, responding to and containing infectious diseases occurring anywhere in the world. This means close cooperation and communication among governments and health organizations around the world. But fragile national health systems in too many countries make this difficult, which leaves the world vulnerable to the outbreaks.

The Global Health Security Agenda is a partnership of international organizations, non-governmental stakeholders, and 55 countries, including the United States. Launched two years ago, it aims to help countries address global vulnerability to these public health threats, strengthen systems, and ensure that a trained workforce has the systems and tools needed to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious diseases.

On November 4th, President Barack Obama signed an executive order which cements the Global Health Security Agenda as a national, priority and affirms the United States' commitment to achieving the protections that Global Health Security Agenda makes possible.

“Promoting global health security is a core tenet of our national strategy for countering biological threats. No single nation can be prepared if other nations remain unprepared to counter biological threats,” states the document.

“The comprehensive framework the Obama Administration is launching with this executive order,” wrote USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health, Dr. Ariel Pablos Mendez, “will have a far-reaching impact on our ability to partner with new sectors to prevent, detect and respond to epidemic threats; leverage the full power and leadership of the U.S. Government for this effort; and move us closer to achieving the vision of a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats.”

世界正变得越来越小。随着人们在不同大洲之间流动，任何一个地方传染病的威胁都有可能成为全球的威胁。在当今互联互通的世界里，一种病原体可以在仅仅36个小时的时间里在全球主要大城市间传播。这就意味着，如果一种致命性疾病（以禽流感为例）在某个人与动物密切接触的农村地区出现的话，那么这种疾病就能迅速在城市间传播，继而在数小时内传播到全球。在人口稠密的地区，一个或两个高度传染性疾病的携带者可能会在数天内引发流行病甚至传染病。

预防是抵御多种致命疾病的第一道防线。击溃致命疾病的可能性爆发，关键在于国际社群能够迅速检测、回应、控制全球任何地方的传染性疾病。而这就需要各国政府和全球卫生组织之间的密切合作与沟通。然而，很多国家的卫生体系脆弱不堪，给这项工作带来了困难，让全球在多种疾病爆发面前束手无策。

全球卫生安全议程是多个国际机构、非政府性利益相关方以及包括美国在内的55个国家共同合作的项目。该项目于2年前启动，旨在帮助不同国家解决在公众卫生威胁面前防御力地下的问题，同时还有加强各国卫生系统、确保训练有素的卫生工作人员在抵御、检测、回应传染性疾病时具备所需的多种系统和工具。

11月4日，美国总统奥巴马签署了总统行政命令，加强了全球卫生安全议程作为国家级首要事项的重要性，同时申明了美国对于实现由全球卫生安全议程作为前提的卫生保护的承诺。

“促进全球卫生安全是我们对抗多种生物威胁的国家战略核心原则。没有任何单个国家能在其他国家对抗生物威胁方面准备不足的情况下独善其身，”这份总统行政命令中写道。

“奥巴马政府所发布总统行政命令中的这个综合性框架，”美国国际开发署（USAID）行政助理阿里尔?帕布罗?门德斯博士说，“对于我们在新领域合作以预防、检测、回应传染性疾病的能力、借助美国政府在卫生安全方面的全权与领导力、带领我们朝着不受传染性疾病威胁的世界前景更进一步等方面具有深远意义。”