2006年VOA标准英语-WHO: Fight Against Malaria Can Be Won

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
19 April 2006
 
The World Health Organization is urging countries to step up their fight against malaria¹ by making an anti-malaria drug, Artemisinin, available to everyone who needs it. WHO says Artemisinin-based combination therapies, known as ACT, are especially needed in Africa, the area most affected² by the disease.

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The World Health Organization estimates between 350 million and 500 million people around the world get malaria every year. Of these, about one million people, mainly children, die. The World Health Organization says most of the cases and deaths are in Africa.

But people involved in the WHO campaign against malaria believe they are in the midst of an unprecedented³ opportunity for fighting malaria.

Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis⁴ and Malaria spokesman Jon Liden says the fight against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis may take a long time, but he says new technologies have come on the market in recent years that make it possible to cut dramatically malaria cases. Liden says two major factors are aiding the malaria fight.

"One is the ACT's, the artemisinin combination therapies, and the other ones are the long-lasting bed nets, insecticide impregnated bed nets. One of the most heartening aspects of working in the Global Fund is to hear the reports that are coming in from the programs that we finance ... For example, in the project in southern Africa-Mozambique and Swaziland, mortality rates among children have gone down by 80-percent in a matter of two years because of the combination of effective drugs and blanket use of bed nets," he said.

The Global Fund has been in existence for four years. During that time, it has awarded grants of two-point-two-billion dollars to 70 countries, most of them in Africa, to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Roll Back Malaria Partnership⁵ Executive Secretary Awa Marie Coll-Seck acknowledges many countries are reluctant to switch from Chloroquine, an older anti-malaria drug, to Artemisinin because of the expense. But, she says this must be done because Chloroquine is no longer effective against malaria.

Coll-Seck says more money is available from organizations such as the Global Fund to help poor countries buy these drugs. "We have seen coming on the market drugs, generic⁶ drugs coming from China and India of good quality because they are now going through the pre-qualification of WHO. It is not counterfeit⁷. It is generics⁸ of good qualities. And, we expect that with these generics the price will go down," he said.

Artemisinin is made from a plant grown in China and in some places in East Africa. Coll-Seck says research is going on to produce a synthetic⁹ product.

That, plus the manufacture of generic drugs, she says could lower the price to about $1 for a three-day course of treatment instead of the current price of around $2.50.
 
 

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 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

5 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

6 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

7 counterfeit   

vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的

参考例句：

• It is a crime to counterfeit money.伪造货币是犯罪行为。
• The painting looked old but was a recent counterfeit.这幅画看上去年代久远，实际是最近的一幅赝品。

8 generics   

n.（产品，尤指药物 ）无厂家商标的，无商标的( generic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pfizer has set up an in-house division to handle such generics. Pfizer已经建立了一个内部机构来处理这些学名药。 来自互联网
• Payers are being more pushy about getting patients to take generics. 药物费用的支付者更倾向于让病人使用非专利药。 来自互联网

9 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。