VOA慢速英语:Ethiopia Cuts Child Death Rate by Two-Thirds

The United Nations Children's Fund is praising Ethiopia for reaching one of the Millennium Development Goals on child survival. UNICEF officials say Ethiopia has reduced its number of child death by more than two-thirds.
 Between 1990 and 2012, the country reported a 67 percent drop in the number of children dying before the age of five.
联合国儿童基金会赞扬埃塞俄比亚在儿童生存率上实现了千年发展目标之一。儿童基金会官员称，埃塞俄比亚的儿童死亡率已经降低超过三分之二。在1990年到2012年间，埃塞俄比亚报告5岁以下儿童死亡数字下降了67%。

Ethiopia's Minister of Health Kesetebirhan Admasu welcomed the good news, but he admitted that even with the improvement Ethiopia is considered a high-mortality country.
埃塞俄比亚健康部门部长Kesetebirhan Admasu对该好消息表示欢迎。但他承认，即使有了改善，埃塞俄比亚仍然是一个高死亡率的国家。

"If you look at the absolute number of children dying in Ethiopia, it is still huge. We have committed to end all preventive child deaths in a generation by 2035. And we have developed a roadmap to reach that ambitious target."
“如果你看一下埃塞俄比亚儿童死亡的绝对数量就会发现该数字仍是非常巨大的。我们致力于在2035年前终结所有可预防的儿童死亡。同时我们也已经制定了路线图来实现这一宏伟目标。”

Diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria are the leading causes of death among young children in Ethiopia. In 1990, the country's death rate for children under five was one of the highest in the world, it was 204 death for every 1,000 births.
腹泻、肺炎和疟疾是埃塞俄比亚儿童死亡的主要原因。1990年，该国是全球儿童死亡率最高的国家之一，该国当时每1000名新生儿中就有204人死亡。

The rate is now at 68 per 1,000, this means that hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian children who might have died in earlier years now reach their fifth birthday.
目前的死亡率是6.8%，这意味着成千上万在前些年可能死亡的埃塞俄比亚儿童现在活到了5岁。

Ethiopia is one of four African countries to have reached a Millennium Development Goal, the other three are Liberia, Malawi and Tanzania.
埃塞俄比亚是已经实现千年发展目标的4个非洲国家之一，另三个国家是利比里亚，马拉维和坦桑尼亚。

One of the reasons for Ethiopia's success is its Health Extension Program, because of it, 38,000 people were employed to bring health care services to a large part of the rural population.
埃塞俄比亚成功的原因之一在于其推广医疗计划，因为这个计划，3.8万人受雇为很大一部分的农村人口提供医疗保健服务。

Peter Salama is UNICEF representative to Ethiopia. He says Ethiopia's plan of action can serve as an example for other countries:
Peter Salama是联合国儿童基金会驻埃塞俄比亚代表。他说，埃塞俄比亚的行动可以作为其他国家的参考例子：

"Several other African countries have come to do study tours, including delegations from Togo, Guinea, Namibia - all came to study the health extension program and see how they can replicate this critical lesson of bringing health care to the doorstep of the rural population."
“其它几个非洲国家已经来考察，包括多哥、几内亚和纳米比亚的代表团，他们都是来学习推广医疗计划，并看一看他们能如何复制这一将医疗服务送至农村人口家门口的重大经验。”

The United Nations first announced the Millennium Development Goals 13 years ago, the goals remain to help countries pay more attention to issues such as fighting extreme poverty.
联合国于13年前首次宣布千年发展目标，该目标现在仍然有助于各国更加重视诸如打击极端贫困等问题。

Progress on the Millennium Development Goal of reducing child death is slow in most countries, only 13 of 61 countries are in a position to meet the goal.
大多数国家在减少儿童死亡这一千年发展目标上进展缓慢，61个国家中只有13个能够实现这一目标。