Opening Remarks to Commemorate World Health Day: Vector-borne Diseases

慶祝世界衛生日開幕詞：病媒傳播的疾病

Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization

世界衛生組織總干事 陳馮富珍博士

Geneva, Switzerland

瑞士，日內瓦

7 April 2014

2014年4月7日

Distinguished guests, colleagues in public health, our staff, ladies and gentlemen,

尊敬的各位來賓、各位公共衛生同仁、我們的員工、女士們和先生們，

World Health Days provide an opportunity to focus world attention on a health problem or issue that deserves special attention. Vector-borne diseases are one such problem.

世界衛生日提供了一個機會，使世界注意力集中在值得特別注意的衛生問題或議題方面。病媒傳播的疾病便是此類問題之一。

Holding these diseases at bay, and getting the upper hand, require multiple actions on multiple fronts. These are especially tenacious diseases that deliver a stern reminder of the dangers of complacency.

對這些疾病加以遏制和控制，需要多條戰線采取多方行動。這些疾病都特別頑固，這嚴厲提醒我們自滿情緒所具有的危險。

The massive use of insecticides in the 1940s and 1950s successfully brought many important vector-borne diseases under control, including yellow fever and, in several areas, malaria.

20世紀40年代和50年代大量使用殺蟲劑，成功地控制住了許多重要的病媒傳播疾病，包括黃熱病和在若干地區存在的瘧疾。

Complacency set in. Control programmes were dismantled. Resources dwindled. Expertise was lost. And the diseases roared back with a vengeance, and a vanished infrastructure for their control. For example, the worldwide incidence of dengue has increased 30-fold compared with the situation 50 years ago.

隨后自滿情況開始出現?？刂埔巹澰獾酵呓?，資源減少，專門技能不復存在。這些疾病便猛烈地咆哮而歸，可用來控制的基礎設施卻不復存在。例如，全世界登革熱發病率比50年前增加了30倍。

Malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes, remains the best-known and biggest killer among vector-borne diseases. But there are others.

通過蚊子傳播的瘧疾，仍然是病媒傳播疾病中眾所周知的最大殺手。但也有其他疾病殺手。

Some, like dengue and yellow fever, tend to erupt in large outbreaks that can paralyze health systems and cause considerable economic and social disruption. Onchocerciasis causes blindness. Chikungunya causes severe joint pain that can last for weeks.

有些疾病，如登革熱和黃熱病，往往以大型疫情方式出現，可使衛生系統發生癱瘓，并對經濟和社會造成巨大沖擊。盤尾絲蟲病可導致失明?；卓涎挪】梢鸪掷m數周的嚴重關節疼痛。

Chagas disease in its late stage can cause heart failure and early death in young adults. Japanese encephalitis can permanently damage the central nervous system. Schistosomiasis, the most widespread of all these diseases, contributes to poor nutritional status and poor school performance.

南美錐蟲病在晚期可導致心衰和青壯年早逝。日本腦炎可對中樞神經系統造成永久損害。血吸蟲病在所有這些疾病中傳播最廣，它可引起營養狀況不良和學習成績欠佳。

Some forms of leishmaniasis are rapidly fatal. Others cause severe facial disfigurement. Of the 120 million people currently infected with lymphatic filariasis, around 40 million are disfigured and incapacitated by the disease.

某些形式的利什曼病可迅速斃命。其他形式則會造成嚴重毀容。在目前感染淋巴絲蟲病的1.2億人中，約有4000萬人遭到毀容，或因得病而喪失工作能力。

Lost productivity is one consequence. Stigma and social exclusion are additional sources of misery, especially for women.

喪失生產力是一個后果。恥辱感和社會排斥則是痛苦的另外起因，對婦女而言尤其如此。

In another worrisome trend, vectors in several countries are developing resistance to a highly effective class of insecticides that is also the most affordable.

另一令人擔憂的趨勢是，一些國家的病媒正在對最具有負擔性的高效類殺蟲劑產生耐藥性。

Vectors thrive under conditions where housing is poor, water is unsafe, and environments are contaminated with filth. Vector-borne diseases exact their heaviest toll on the poor, the people left behind by development. Measures that control the vectors provide an excellent, but underutilized opportunity to help these people catch up.

病媒在水不安全和環境骯臟的條件下大量滋生。病媒傳播疾病對窮人和被發展拋在后面的人們造成的危害最大?？刂撇∶絺鞑ゼ膊〉拇胧閹椭@些人追趕上來提供了極好機會，可這種機會卻沒得到充分利用。

We need to recreate the momentum for vector control and the fundamental capacities that underpin it. These include staff with technical expertise, stronger surveillance systems, and better laboratory infrastructure.

我們需要重新創立病媒控制的勢頭，以及用來支持這一控制的基本能力。這包括具有技術專長的工作人員、強有力的監控系統以及更好的實驗室基礎設施。

For vector-borne diseases, control programmes never tread water. They either surge ahead or they sink.

對于病媒傳播的疾病而言，控制規劃從不踩水。它們要么沖向前，要么沉下去。

This World Health Day is a reminder of the urgent need to act before an alarming situation deteriorates any further.

今年的世界衛生日提醒我們，在令人震驚的局勢繼續出現惡化之前，迫切需要行動起來。

Taking action is entirely feasible. WHO promotes integrated vector management as the best approach to strengthen vector control. The approach uses a range of interventions, from indoor residual spraying to the use of natural insect predators, in combination and in a value-added way.

采取行動是完全可行的。世衛組織將病媒綜合管理作為強化病媒控制的最佳方法加以推動。這一方法以組合和增值的方式，采用從室內殘留噴灑到利用昆蟲天敵等一系列干預措施。

The control of vector-borne diseases can make a major contribution to poverty reduction, as it precisely targets the poor.

控制病媒傳播疾病，可為減貧做出很大貢獻，因為它的目標恰恰是窮人。

It is my sincere wish that this World Health Day will invigorate vector control and give it the high profile it deserves. No one in the 21st century should die from the bite of a mosquito, a sandfly, a blackfly, or a tick.

我真誠地希望今年世界衛生日會對病媒控制帶來生氣，并對這項工作給予應有的重視。任何人在21世紀都不應因蚊子、白蛉、黑蠅或蜱的叮咬而死亡。

Thank you.

謝謝各位。