(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
WHO: Possible to Defeat Malaria, But Probably Not Soon
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health and Lifestyle report.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is possible to defeat the disease malaria, although that is not likely to happen with the current methods.
Pedro Alonso directs the United Nations agency's global malaria program. He says the WHO wants to eradicate the disease but "with the tools we have today, it is most unlikely eradication will be achieved."
Alonso spoke last week as he presented the results of a three-year long study on the fight against the disease.
Malaria infected around 219 million people in 2017. That year about 435,000 people died from the disease. The large majority were babies and children in the poorest areas of Africa. These totals are little changed from 2016. But the numbers are smaller than the 239 million infections and 607,000 deaths reported in 2010.
Abdourahmane Diallo is head of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria. The group released a statement from him on the WHO report. It said, "Today, there are more countries without malaria than with (it), and more countries than ever have fewer than 10,000 malaria cases, putting elimination within reach."
Diallo noted that in some areas, malaria cases are increasing, showing a need "to reignite and accelerate progress".
WHO officials have long wanted to destroy malaria. The United Nations agency first attempted a campaign against the disease in 1955 before suspending it in the 1960s. Now, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is providing financial support for the latest efforts.
Tools to fight malaria
There are a number of drugs available to successfully treat malaria. Sleeping under chemically-treated bed nets has proven to be effective in order to control malaria-carrying mosquitoes and infections.
The drug company GSK has also developed a vaccine that has proven partially effective against malaria. The vaccine is currently used in Ghana and Malawi.
But the WHO's report says these tools will not be enough to end the threat from malaria altogether. It calls for research and development of "transformative tools and knowledge" to control mosquitoes and create more effective medicines to prevent and treat the disease.
The report says less than 1% of international financing for health research and development now goes to developing tools to fight malaria.
"Our priority...should be to establish the foundation for a successful future eradication effort while guarding against the risk of failure that would lead to the waste of huge sums of money...," the report said.
Has any disease ever been eradicated?
Smallpox is the only human disease to ever have been eradicated. Thanks to the success of vaccinations, the WHO declared the disease eradicated in 1980. Since then, no natural cases of smallpox have been reported.
In 1988, WHO and health partners launched an international campaign to defeat polio by 2000. But even with billions of invested dollars, the efforts have repeatedly missed eradication targets.
"An effective vaccine is something we desperately need if we're ever going to get malaria under control and we just don't have it," said Alister Craig of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Craig wondered whether malaria programs would be able to raise the money needed given other competing eradication campaigns, including those for polio and guinea worm.
Sian Clarke is co-director of the malaria center at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She says that since mosquitoes spread malaria by infecting people with a parasite, eradication might only be possible if there is a sense of urgency.
"The longer it takes, the more opportunity there is for the parasite to evolve," she said. "So this is something that if it's to be done, should be done relatively quickly."
And that's the Health and Lifestyle Report.
I'm Anna Matteo.
重点解析
重点讲解：
1. die from 死于；
Forty-thousand children a day die from preventable diseases.
每天有4万个孩子死于本可以预防的疾病。
2. in order to 为了；以便；目的在于；
In order to get a complete picture, further information is needed.
为掌握全面情况，还需要详细资料。
3. guard against 提防；防范；
The armed forces were on high alert to guard against any retaliation.
武装部队保持高度戒备，以防发生任何报复行动。
4. thanks to 幸亏；由于；因为；
It was all a great success─thanks to a lot of hard work.
由于尽心竭力，这才大获成功。
参考译文
世卫组织称可以消除疟疾 但近期可能无法实现
这里是VOA慢速英语健康生活报道。
世界卫生组织（简称WHO，世卫组织）表示，疟疾可以消除，不过凭借现有方法不太可能实现。
佩德罗·阿隆索是联合国世卫组织全球疟疾规划主任。他表示，世卫组织希望能消除疟疾，但“凭借现有工具，几乎无法实现消除目标”。
这是阿隆索在上周所说，当时他公布了历时三年完成的对抗疟疾研究成果。
2017年，全球有约2.19亿人感染疟疾。那一年，有约43.5万人死于疟疾。绝大多数死者是非洲最贫穷地区的婴儿和儿童。与2016年相比，疟疾在2017年的感染和致死人数几乎没有变化。但这一数据明显少于2010年，当时有2.39亿人感染，60.7万人死亡。
阿布多拉曼尼·迪亚洛是“遏制疟疾伙伴关系”组织的负责人。该组织在世卫组织的报告中发表了迪亚洛的声明。声明指出，“现在，没有疟疾病例的国家多于有病例的国家，而且疟疾病例低于1万的国家比以往任何时候都要多，这表明消除疟疾指日可待。”
迪亚洛指出，一些地区的疟疾病例呈上升趋势，这表明需要“重新激发并加速进展”。
世卫组织官员一直希望能摧毁疟疾。这一联合国下属机构在1955年首次启动对抗疟疾的行动，但在上世纪60年代暂停了这一行动。现在，比尔及梅琳达·盖茨基金会正在为对抗疟疾的最新努力提供经济支持。
对抗疟疾的工具
目前有多种药物可成功治疗疟疾。经证实，在经过化学处理的蚊帐中睡觉可以有效遏制被携带疟疾病毒的蚊子叮咬，同时可避免感染。
制药公司葛兰素史克还研发出一种对抗疟疾的疫苗，经证实该疫苗部分有效。这款疫苗目前已引入加纳和马拉维。
但世卫组织的报告表示，这些工具不足以终结疟疾带来的全部威胁。报告呼吁研发“革新性工具和知识”来控制蚊子，并创造出更多有效药物来预防和治疗疟疾。
报告表示，目前健康研发获得的国际资助中只有不到1%的资金用于开发对抗疟疾的工具。
报告指出，“我们的首要任务应该是成立基金会，以确保未来根除工作的成功，同时防范失败风险，因为失败将浪费巨额资金。”
有疾病被永远消除吗？
天花是目前唯一被消灭的人类疾病。得益于疫苗的成功，世卫组织在1980年宣布已消灭天花。自那之后，没有报告过任何自然发生的天花病例。
1988年，世卫组织和卫生合作伙伴启动在2000年前根除小儿麻痹症的全球行动。但即使投入了数十亿美元，这项行动却多次错过良机，没能实现根除目标。
利物浦热带医学院的阿利斯特·克雷格表示，“如果要控制疟疾，那我们所迫切需要的就是有效疫苗，而现在我们还没有这样的疫苗。”
克雷格想知道，疟疾计划是否能筹集到所需要的资金，因为包括根除小儿麻痹症和麦地那龙线虫病行动在内，还有其他根除行动在竞争援助资金。
希恩·克拉克是伦敦卫生与热带医学院疟疾中心的联合主任。她表示，由于蚊子通过寄生虫感染人类来传播疟疾，那只有在产生紧迫感时才有可能实现根除。
她说，“时间越长，寄生虫进化的机会就越多。因此，如果要消灭疟疾，那就应该尽快实现。”
以上是健康生活报道。
我是安娜·马迪奥。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
