VOA标准英语2008年-Pregnant Women in Africa Face Risky Childbirth

By Kari Barber
Bensonville, Liberia
30 May 2008
 

African countries have some of the worst maternal¹ mortality rates in the world. Lack of hospitals, lack of road access and transportation and lack of trained medical personnel² are all reasons cited³ by health officials for why so many African women die in childbirth. In Liberia, a recent government study found that more than 900 out of every 100,000 women die due to pregnancy⁴ complications⁵. Kari Barber reports from Bensonville, Liberia, on what is being done to reduce the mortality rate.

Mary Moses arrives at the Bensonville clinic for a prenatal checkup. A medically trained midwife listens to her stomach. This will be Moses' fourth child. She walked more than three hours to get here. "I walk, but now my back is giving me a hard time, so the nurses say I should not walk that distance," she said.

Moses says a vehicle is supposed to pass between her village and the clinic once a day, but it does not come every day.

In Liberia, most women do not give birth at clinics. Instead they deliver their babies at home with the help of local women.

Minister of Health Walter Gwenigale says there are not enough medically trained midwives, especially in rural areas.

"Midwives we need to have like 1,400, we have less than 300, I think. So it is a very big problem. Our maternal death rate has gone from 500 for every 100,000 to almost a thousand for every 100,000. It is obvious that the women who are delivering are not delivering into safe hands," Gwenigale said.

To change this, traditional midwives - like Tinapu Toby - are being given basic medical training. Toby says she wishes she had learned these skills sooner so she could have saved her 20-year-old daughter and her unborn baby.

Toby explains."It happened to me, my own daughter. I brought her to the hospital, but it was too late and the baby and her died," she said.

The training is starting small, in just a few counties, health workers say they hope to see it spread. The midwives are volunteers who say they are tired of seeing their daughters and neighbors die.

Health workers say while having more medical professionals would be a better solution, training traditional midwives has proven to save lives.

Moses says when her baby comes she hopes she can find a ride to the clinic, but, she says, she knows the chances of that are slim.

1 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

2 personnel   

n.[总称]人员，员工，人事部门

参考例句：

• The personnel are not happy to change these rules.全体工作人员对改变这些规定很不高兴。
• Personnel has lost my tax forms.人事部门把我的税收表格给弄丢了。

3 cited   

引用( cite的过去式和过去分词 )； 传唤； 记起； [军事]传（或通）令嘉奖

参考例句：

• He cited his heavy workload as the reason for his breakdown. 他说繁重的工作负荷是导致他累垮的原因。
• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat. 医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。

4 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

5 complications   

（新出现的）困难，难题( complication的名词复数 )； 并发症； 曲折

参考例句：

• Complications set in, and the patient died. 病人因出现并发症而死亡。
• Normally there are no complications with the medicine. 服用这种药按理不会产生并发症。