VOA标准英语2012--US Investment Saving Lives Around the World

US Investment Saving Lives Around the World

 

A new report says the U.S. government is the world leader when it comes to investing in global health research and development. Over the past 10 years, the U.S. has provided nearly 13 billion dollars for new vaccines², drugs and equipment to fight diseases in developing countries.

The report is called Saving Lives and Creating Impact: Why investing in global health research works. It focuses on five federal agencies between 2000 and 2010: The National Institutes of Health, USAID, the Department of Defense³, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration.

“The global Health Technologies Coalition⁴ is a group of nearly 40 nonprofits that have all come together to address some of the greatest barriers facing the development of new vaccines, new drugs, new diagnostics and other products. And looking at the policy solutions that the U.S. government can apply in order to accelerate and advance the development of those critically needed new products,” said Kaitlin Christenson, director of The Global Health Technologies Coalition, which released the report.

The coalition is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Having an effect

Christenson said U.S. investment in global health is having a “true impact” on the developing world.

“We’ve seen that over the last decade the U.S. government has funded nearly half of the total global investment in research. And that that investment is translated to new products that are saving lives around the world,” she said.

One example is a new meningitis vaccine¹. The report estimates the MenAfriVac vaccine will prevent nearly 440,000 cases of meningitis over the next 10 years. There’s also a new test to diagnose tuberculosis⁵. The Xpert MTB/RIF test could triple the number of people diagnosed with drug resistant⁶ TB.

Competing interests

Christenson acknowledged the report’s being released at a time when President Obama and congress are debating where to spend and where to cut.

“In this era where we really are under a constrained⁷ economic environment everything is at risk. No, we certainly never want to pit one important program against another. What we would hope is that policymakers see the true impact of the investment,” he said.

However, Christenson said the coalition is not just worried about budget cuts. It warns against flatlined funding where no increase in funding is approved.

“There are lots of tools that are stuck in research phases because we don’t have sufficient funding. For one example, what are called neglected tropical diseases, the U.S. investment is typically at the very early stages of research, but not at the later stages where we’re actually taking that early science and translating it into a product that works,” she said.

The report says investing in global health also has domestic benefits. It says for every dollar the government spends on global health research and development, 64 cents goes directly to U.S.-based researchers.

Christenson said global health is a bipartisan issue--something both democrats⁸ and Republicans can agree to fund.

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

5 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。

6 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

7 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

8 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》