VOA标准英语2014--FAO Launches Ebola Awareness Campaign in West Africa

 

FAO Launches Ebola Awareness¹ Campaign in West Africa

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization helps developing countries grow better crops and raise healthier livestock². It does so by training government field agents, who work in local communities. Now those same people are being enlisted³ to help stop the spread of Ebola in West Africa.

The project is being kicked-off in Guinea, where the Ebola outbreak began last December. A two-year-old child was the first infected and first to die. The significance of that was not realized for months – and the infection rate and death toll⁴ have continued to rise.

To help stem the spread, Ebola training workshops for 90 rural development and agricultural extension agents have been held in seven districts in Guinea.

Vincent Martin, FAO’s representative in Senegal and the head of the regional hub for resilience and emergency in West Africa, said the FAO has been committed to the fight against the deadly virus.

“We know that the disease has spread in rural areas – places where there is a strong agricultural sector⁵. And for this reason we’ve been working in close collaboration⁶ with our partners – the Ministry⁷ of Agriculture, of course, Ministry of Livestock – so that we could facilitate the work of human health doctors or nurses, who are trained to fight against the disease.”

The training was held over the past few weeks.

“We could mobilize our extension services, our agricultural workers, animal health workers to help spread the right messages regarding Ebola. We need to train the agricultural extension staff to better understand the epidemiology of the disease – to better understand how we can stop the spread of the disease by just implementing⁸ very simple measures of control, hygiene⁹, etc.,” said Martin.

The training in Guinea – and eventually Liberia and Sierra Leone – centers on communication, information and – what’s called -- social mobilization.

“We mean that in the face of such a crisis, which is deeply rooted into cultural practices, it is very important to convey the right messages to the communities. To do that it’s not just a matter of communication. It’s communication in a specific, cultural context. So, what we mean by social mobilization is to try to convey the right messages, in terms of prevention measures, adapted to the local context – adapted to the cultural practices in a specific area,” said Martin.

Last month, in Guinea, eight members of a team were killed when they went to a rural area to raise awareness about Ebola. The dead included health workers and journalists. The attack was blamed on fear and suspicion on the part of villagers. However, the FAO-trained workers are not strangers.

“In the field there were some negative reactions towards people who were trying just to explain how to avoid Ebola -- just because the situation was not explained properly or because people didn’t understand. We try to understand what are the dynamics¹⁰ within this community so that we can spread the right messages. These people, they are in the field on a daily basis. They work with the farmers. They work with the livestock owners every day all year. So they’ve got a special relationship with these people,” he said.

The FAO-led awareness campaign in Guinea is expected to reach 9,000 households. Field agents will also distribute 36,000 bars of soap and 9,000 bottles of chlorine. They’ll also work with local communities to establish Ebola early warning systems to look for signs of the disease in wildlife.

The FAO says strengthening the role of Guinea’s Ministries¹¹ of Livestock and Animal Production in the fight against Ebola will also help ensure food security. 

1 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

2 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

3 enlisted   

adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
• He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

6 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

8 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

9 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

10 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

11 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。