您现在的位置: Language Tips> Audio & Video> Special Speed News  
 





 
Group works to build peace through medicine
[ 2007-12-03 15:29 ]

 

Download

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

How do you define diplomacy? For the group Physicians for Peace, diplomacy is all about bringing medical education and care to places where they are needed most.

This nonprofit organization brings together medical volunteers from different cultures and opposing sides of conflicts. Its message is "building peace and international friendships through medicine."

Physicians for Peace is based in the American state of Virginia. Doctor Charles Horton, a plastic surgeon known for his humanitarian work, established the group in the 1980s.

More then five hundred teams of doctors, dentists, nurses and others have gone to nearly sixty countries. Some programs have lasted for years. For example, Physicians for Peace has had a program to treat burn victims in Nicaragua since 1992. Other developing nations use this program as an example for their own burn care programs.

In Africa, the group is active in Liberia, Senegal, Mali and Malawi. And, in January, Physicians for Peace will launch a class in pediatrics and general surgery in Eritrea.

Thirteen medical students will learn about treating children and performing operations. In the future they will train others. The project involves a partnership with George Washington University Medical Center in Washington and the Eritrean Health Ministry.

In the Philippines, Physicians for Peace is helping to provide eye care to people who have never had their eyes examined before. The group is also helping to fit replacement arms and legs for people who have had limbs removed.

The group is also helping rebuild a pediatric hospital in Sri Lanka that was destroyed by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2005. And two times a year, it sends medical volunteers to the West Bank.

Charity Navigator, a service that rates nonprofit organizations, gives Physicians for Peace its top rating. Health care providers from the United States donate their time and pay their own travel costs. The group had a budget last year of thirty-five million dollars. Most of that was the value of donated medical supplies.

Ron Sconyers, a retired Air Force brigadier general, is the chief executive officer of Physicians for Peace. He tells us that the group goes only where it is invited. He says it receives more requests for assistance than it can meet, but works hard not to turn anyone down.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. I’m Steve Ember.

plastic surgeon:整形外科医师

(Source: VOA 英语点津姗姗编辑)

 
 
相关文章 Related Stories
 

 

 

 
 

本频道最新推荐

     
  Group works to build peace through medicine
  Miss China crowned Miss World 2007
  Starbucks, Ethiopia join forces
  Big win expected for Putin in parliamentary election
  China Daily Video News:November 30

论坛热贴

     
  旁听会议怎么说?
  fingernail moon是什么月亮呢?
  用英语"房产证"怎么说?
  “女强人”怎么说?
  “好吃狗”英语怎么说?
  Easy Ways to Exit Awkward Situations