VOA常速英语:非洲：预防疟疾一小步，孩子成绩提高一大步

Most malaria prevention programs focus on the under 5s but infection is often higher among schoolchildern who have developed a level of immunity and are less likely to die from the disease.Many schoolchildern continue to harbor malaria parasites without displaying any symptoms of the disease.Left untreated, the child’s health often deteriorates.
大多数疟疾预防计划的工作重点针对的都是五岁以下的儿童，但实际上，那些有一定抵抗力、我们认为不太可能死于疟疾的学童，感染疟疾的概率通常更高。许多学童体内有疟疾寄生虫，却没有任何患病症状。若不加以治疗，通常来说，孩子的健康状况就会恶化。

“The malaria parasites destroy the red blood cells, and as a consequence of that you get chronic anemia in children.Generally, children who are anemic feel weak, they’re tired, they’re generally lethargic,they are going to be less active and less fully engaged.”
“疟疾寄生虫会破坏红细胞，最终就会导致孩子们患上慢性贫血。一般来说，贫血的孩子身体虚弱、易累、无精打采，不那么活跃，精神状态不够饱满。”

The malaria prevention research involved nearly 2,000 schoolchildren in Mali.It was led by Save the Children and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,alongside the National Institute for Public Health Research in Mali.
疟疾预防研究涉及马里近2000名学童。该研究由“救助儿童”组织、伦敦卫生和热带医学学院以及马里国家公共卫生研究所共同组织。

Around half the children were given a malaria control package delivered by their teachers, which included prevention education, insecticide-treated nets and anti-malarial treatment.Malaria infection rates fell from 80 percent to just 5 percent, and cases of anemia were almost halved compared to the control group.
约有一半的孩子拿到了老师发放的控制疟疾传播的包裹，其中包括预防知识教育，经杀虫剂处理过的蚊帐和反疟疾疗法。疟疾感染率从80％下降到5％，与对照组相比，贫血病例几乎减半。

“And the children’s capacity to pay attention for longer was increased.”Save the Children has helped expand the program to 400 schools in Mali, it’s the second African country to host the trial.
“孩子们长时间集中注意力的能力增强了。”“救助儿童”组织把这一项目推广到马里的400所学校。马里是进行这一试验的第二个非洲国家。

“So the first study was done in Kenya, an area of year-round transmission.This study was done in Mali, an area with malaria concentrated in just a few months.And the fact that we saw similar results in both settings would suggest that where malaria is a significant problem and the levels of infection are high, then you might expect to see a similar impact in other settings.”
“所以第一次研究是在肯尼亚进行的，这个地区疟疾猖狂，病毒全年传播。这项研究是在马里完成的，疟疾的传播集中在几个月份。事实上，在这两个不同的地区，我们看到了类似的结果，说明疟疾是一个重大问题，感染程度很高，所以你可能也会在其他环境中看到类似的影响。”

Aid workers say preventing anemia in Malian schoolgirls is particularly important because of high teenage marriage and pregnancy rates.Anemia during pregnancy can lead to a low birth weight and a higher risk of child mortality.
援助人员表示，在马里，预防女学生的贫血症尤其重要，这是因为青少年成婚率和怀孕率很高。怀孕期间的贫血可导致新生儿出生时体重过低，并造成儿童死亡风险较高。

Henry Ridgwell, for VOA News, London.
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