| [00:00.10] |
From VOA Learning English, |
| [00:02.51] |
this is the Health Report. |
| [00:04.60] |
Malaria kills about 200,000 newborn babies |
| [00:09.52] |
and 10,000 new mothers every year. |
| [00:12.87] |
Most of these death are in Africa. |
| [00:16.41] |
Malaria can also cause mothers |
| [00:19.32] |
to lose their babies before they are born, |
| [00:22.06] |
or cause a baby to be born early. |
| [00:25.84] |
These are low cost ways to prevent malaria infection. |
| [00:31.27] |
But a new study find |
| [00:33.56] |
that many pregnant women do not receive these interventions. |
| [00:38.20] |
For example, for the past 20 years, |
| [00:42.34] |
the World Health Organization (WHO) has advised pregnant women |
| [00:46.62] |
in areas with high rates of malaria |
| [00:49.68] |
to sleep on the bed nets treated with insecticide. |
| [00:54.19] |
The WHO also advised them to get what is known as |
| [00:59.03] |
intermittent preventive treatment, or IPT. |
| [01:03.06] |
This treatment involves take in a low cost |
| [01:06.89] |
anti-malaria drug at certain times in the pregnancy |
| [01:11.04] |
in an effort to prevent the disease. |
| [01:14.01] |
The WHO recommends that |
| [01:17.41] |
pregnant women receive the medicine |
| [01:19.50] |
usually around 4 times during visits to a clinic. |
| [01:24.63] |
Many pregnant women and new mothers |
| [01:28.66] |
go to medical clinics in sub-saharan Africa. |
| [01:32.39] |
Yet researchers say only about 21 percent |
| [01:36.99] |
receive intermittent preventive treatment |
| [01:40.30] |
during their pregnancy, |
| [01:42.09] |
and less than 40 percent are given protective bed nets. |
| [01:47.36] |
Jenny Hill from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine |
| [01:52.29] |
is program manager for a research partnership |
| [01:56.32] |
called the Malaria and Pregnancy Consortium. |
| [02:00.10] |
Miss Hill says a review of 98 studies |
| [02:04.59] |
found a number of barriers to malaria prevention, |
| [02:08.48] |
these included unclear policy and guidance |
| [02:12.61] |
from government ministers and health care officials. |
| [02:16.30] |
Other problems include drug shortages, |
| [02:19.69] |
a lack of clean water, |
| [02:21.58] |
and confusion about how to administer IPT. |
| [02:26.20] |
"They were unclear on when to give it |
| [02:29.47] |
whether it could be given to women on an empty stomach, |
| [02:32.47] |
whether it should be given under observation in clinics, |
| [02:36.37] |
and so on and so forth." |
| [02:38.21] |
Miss Hill says free intermittent preventive treatment |
| [02:42.04] |
is the policy in 37 countries across the region. |
| [02:45.87] |
But the researchers found that anti-natal clinics or ANCs |
| [02:51.01] |
may charge fees, |
| [02:53.30] |
that can keep some preganat women from returning. |
| [02:56.68] |
Miss Hill says countries can reduce the number of deaths |
| [03:01.71] |
and early births due to malaria |
| [03:04.69] |
by following the WHO policy |
| [03:07.44] |
on intermittent preventive treatment. |
| [03:10.08] |
She says governments should also provide more money in their budgets |
| [03:15.34] |
for anti-malaria drug, so there are no shortages. |
| [03:19.39] |
Also they should publicize the importance |
| [03:23.08] |
of malaria prevention among women |
| [03:26.10] |
at highest risk for the disease. |
| [03:29.06] |
The journal PLoS Medicine |
| [03:31.94] |
published the analysis of maternal |
| [03:34.63] |
and infant malaria prevention measures. |
| [03:37.12] |
And that's the Health Report from VOA Learning English. |
| [03:41.20] |
You can comment on this story at tingvoa.com, |
| [03:47.87] |
and you can find us on Youtube, Facebook, |
| [03:51.56] |
Twitter, LinkedIn and Itunes at VOA Learning English. |
| [03:56.90] |
I'm Jim Tedder. |
