VOA常速英语2019--"世界被忽视热带病日"开幕纪念活动（在线收听）

January 30th marks the first-annual observance of World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day. The hope is that raising awareness of these crippling diseases will increase support as well as investment in the fight against them, particularly in the areas most directly affected.

1月30日是第一个一年一度的世界被忽视热带病日。人们希望，提高对这些严重疾病的认识将增加对抗击这些疾病的支持和投资，特别是在受影响最直接的地区。

Neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs, are maladies of the poorest of the poor. They are chronic disabling illnesses that thrive in areas with inadequate sanitation and lack of clean drinking water.

被忽视的热带病是穷人中最贫穷的人的疾病。它们是慢性致残疾病，在卫生设施不足和缺乏清洁饮用水的地区肆虐。

NTDs have blinded, disabled, disfigured and killed their victims for centuries. Today, more than 1 billion people suffer with these illnesses. Furthermore, NTDs undermine the future of both the affected individuals and their communities. They lower children’s chances of thriving and of staying in school, as well as the ability of adults to work and be fully active in their communities, thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

几个世纪以来，国家结核控制规划使受害者致盲、致残、毁容和死亡。今天，超过10亿人患有这些疾病。此外，被忽视的热带病破坏了受影响个人及其社区的未来。它们降低了儿童茁壮成长和继续上学的机会，也降低了成年人工作和充分参与社区活动的能力，从而使贫穷的循环永久化。

Nonetheless, most NTDs are frequently preventable or treatable, often with low-cost medications. So, back in 2006, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, launched the Neglected Tropical Diseases Program, a public-private partnership to treat those who suffer from NTDs, and to help prevent the spread of these diseases by identifying at-risk communities, distributing medicines through mass campaigns, and measuring results.

尽管如此，大多数被忽视的热带病通常是可预防或可治疗的，通常使用低成本的药物。：因此，早在2006年，美国国际开发署(USAID)就启动了“被忽视的热带病项目”，这是一个公私合作伙伴关系项目，旨在治疗那些罹患被忽视的热带病的患者，并通过确定高危社区、通过大规模运动分发药物和衡量成果来帮助预防这些疾病的传播。

The program targets the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases that have proven, cost-effective health interventions. These include Lymphatic Filariasis, also known as elephantiasis; blinding Trachoma; Onchocerciasis, or River Blindness; Schistosomiasis, which is sometimes called snail fever; and illnesses caused by the Soil Transmitted Helminths hookworm, roundworm, and whipworm.

该规划的目标是已证明具有成本效益的卫生干预措施的最普遍的被忽视热带病。这些疾病包括淋巴丝虫病，也被称为象皮病;致盲性沙眼;盘尾丝虫病或河盲症; 血吸虫病，有时被称为蜗牛热;由土壤引起的疾病会传播蠕虫，如钩虫、蛔虫和鞭虫。

Since the program began in 2006, USAID has helped leverage 22 billion dollars in donated drugs from five pharmaceutical companies. That has allowed 2.6 billion treatments of medicine to go to 1.3 billion people, or 1 out of every 6 people around the globe. Thus far, 10 USAID-supported countries have eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease as a public health problem.

自从2006年这个项目开始以来，美国国际开发署已经帮助5家制药公司筹集了220亿美元的捐赠药品。这使13亿人获得了26亿种药物治疗，即全球每6人中就有1人获得药物治疗。迄今为止，10个由美国国际开发署支持的国家已将至少一种被忽视的热带病作为公共卫生问题予以消除。

The United States believes that the first-annual World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day kicks off an important year in the fight against neglected diseases of poverty. Reducing the burden of disease and disability caused by NTDs is essential to improving the lives of the world’s poorest people.

美国认为，第一个一年一度的世界被忽视热带病日拉开了与贫困被忽视疾病斗争的重要一年。减少非木材制品造成的疾病和残疾负担对改善世界最贫困人口的生活至关重要。