Health experts are calling for action to increase cancer care and control in the developing world. A medical research paper says cancer was once thought of as a problem mostly in the developed world. But now cancer is a leading cause of death and disability in poor countries as well. Experts from Harvard University and other organizations urge the international community to fight cancer actively, saying it should be fought in the way HIV/AIDS has been fought in Africa.
Cancer kills more than 7.5 million people a year worldwide. Almost two-thirds are in low-income and middle-income countries.
They discover cancer kills more people in developing countries than AIDS, tuberculosis (肺结核) and malaria (疟疾) combined. But the world spends only 5% of its cancer resources in those countries.
Felicia Knaul from Harvard Medical School was one of the writers of the paper. She was in Mexico when she was found to have breast cancer. She received treatment there and her experience showed her the sharp difference between the rich and the poor in treating breast cancer.
Felicia Knaul says, “And we are seeing how this is attacking young women. It’s the number two cause of death in Mexico for women thirty to fifty-four. All over the developing world, it’s the number one cancer-related death among young women. I think we have to again say that there is much more we could do about it than we are doing about it.”
Professor Knalul met community health workers during her work in developing countries. They were an important part of efforts to reduce deaths from the cancer. They were able to persuade people to get tested to prevent the illness. The experts say cancer care does not have to be costly. For example, patients can be treated with lower-cost drugs.
小题1:What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Cancer – a leading cause of death in poor countries |
| B．What should we do in preventing and treating cancer? |
| C．What makes the first killer in developing countries? |
| D．Experts urge more efforts to fight cancer. |
小题2:Felicia Knaul’s experience in Mexico shows that
.
| A．many Mexican women suffer from breast cancer |
| B．there is not enough medicine for cancer there |
| C．many Mexican women can’t afford medical care |
| D．patients with breast cancer are treated differently |
小题3:From what Felicia Knaul says, we can draw the conclusion that
.
| A．breast cancer is a great threat to young women |
| B．people don’t pay enough attention to breast cancer |
| C．breast cancer is the second killer among women in Mexico |
| D．patients can be treated effectively in developing countries |
小题4:Who plays an important part in preventing the cancer in developing countries?
| A．The cancer patients. | B．The health experts. |
| C．Community health workers. | D．Young women. |
小题5:Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The number of cancer cases is decreasing. |
| B．HIV/AIDS is not being taken seriously in Africa. |
| C．Over 7.5 million people die of cancer every year. |
| D．It is very expensive to treat cancer. |