VOA慢速英语2012 Health Report - UN Says Family Planning Pays Big for Developing Countries

Health Report - UN Says Family Planning Pays Big for Developing Countries

健康报道 - 联合国表示计划生育对发展中国家具有积极作用

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report in Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。

A new report says greater access to family planning methods would save developing countries more than eleven billion dollars a year. The United Nations Population Fund says the savings 1 would come from reduced costs of care for mothers and newborn babies.

一份新报告称，扩大计划生育措施每年将为发展中国家节省110多亿美元。联合国人口基金表示，这些节省的资金将来自护理母亲和新生儿开支的减少。

These are some of the findings from this year's "State of World Population" report:

以下是来自今年的《世界人口状况报告》的一些研究结果。

Two hundred twenty-two million women in developing countries cannot get birth control or other family planning services. An investment of four billion dollars a year would provide these women with reproductive information to reduce unplanned pregnancies 2 and unsafe abortions 4.

发展中国家有2.22亿妇女得不到生育控制或其他计划生育服务。每年投资四十亿美元将能够为这些妇女提供生殖信息以减少意外怀孕和不安全堕胎。

An investment of about two billion dollars a year would provide enough contraceptives to meet the needs of developing countries.

每年投资大约二十亿美元将能够提供足够避孕用品满足发展中国家的需要。

The report says increased access to family planning is a good economic investment. Having fewer children has long paid a so-called demographic dividend 5 to rich countries in Europe and North America. Population Fund spokeswoman Diane Stewart says one-third of the growth of Asia's "tiger" economies is the result of increased use of family planning services.

报告称，计划生育的扩大是一项良好的经济投资。少生孩子给欧洲和北美的富裕国家长期带来了所谓的人口红利。人口基金发言人黛安·斯图尔特（Diane Stewart）表示，亚洲经济小虎国家1/3的经济增长来自于计划生育服务的加强。

"To be able to choose the number of children and when you start having children, so that has dramatically changed the way people live in many countries. They're able to live longer and healthier lives because of family planning, and it also has a positive multiplier effect on development because of the increased savings that are possible within the family and the investment in economic growth that that brings about."

“能够自主选择生育数量和生育时间，极大地改变了许多国家人民的生活方式。因为计划生育，他们能够过上更长寿更健康的生活，由此带来的家庭储蓄可能的增长以及对经济增长的投入也会对发展产生积极的乘数效应。”

Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the biggest unmet needs for family planning services. The report says modern contraceptives are not widely available in countries such as Chad and Niger. But Ms. Stewart says providing contraceptives in developing countries is not enough. There are social, political and legal barriers that prevent access to birth control. In many cultures, women are encouraged to have large families and to avoid or limit the use of contraceptives.

撒哈拉以南非洲地区对计划生育服务具有未满足的最大需求。报告称，现代避孕用品在乍得和尼日尔一类的国家未得到广泛使用。但斯图尔特女士表示，光在发展中国家提供避孕用品是不够的，还存在防止生育控制的社会、政治和法律上的障碍。在许多国家，妇女被鼓励多生，并避免或限制避孕用品的使用。

The Population Fund says family planning helps countries reduce poverty. A recent study said Nigeria's economy would grow by at least thirty billion dollars if the fertility rate fell by just one child per woman in the next twenty years.

联合国人口基金表示，计划生育有助于各国减少贫困。最近一项研究表示，如果未来20年里，尼日利亚的生育率下降到每名妇女只生一个孩子，它的经济将增长至少300亿美元。

注：尼日利亚是非洲人口大国。

Ms. Stewart says family planning is a global challenge.

斯图尔特女士表示，计划生育是一项全球性的挑战。

"There are unmet needs for family planning in every country in the world. And a lot of that has to do with poor, disadvantaged, marginalized groups in many countries who don't have access to the kinds of services and products that they need in order to plan their own families, space their children and prevent unintended pregnancies."

“世界上每个国家都对计划生育具有未满足的需求。在许多国家这些需求都和贫穷、弱势或边缘群体有关，他们无法享有他们需要的计划生育和防止意外怀孕的各类服务与产品。”

She says studies show that abortion 3 rates fall in countries where people have access to modern methods of family planning.

她表示，研究表明，人们享有现代计划生育措施的国家的流产率有所下降。