听写

Asian countries are expected to face higher health care costs over the next 10 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) says improvements in Asia’s economies have caused much lower levels of poverty. But this progress has caused changes in societies, lifestyles and the kind of food people eat. It has also caused an increase in urban (1).

Conditions such as cancer, stroke and dementia are predicted to cause health care costs in the area to increase sharply. The WHO says late treatment of cancer causes 1.3 million deaths a year in Southeast Asia. The UN organization says (2) of the 8.8 million people who die of cancer worldwide each year are in Africa and Asia.

The WHO says cancers, diabetes, heart diseases and lung diseases caused (3) deaths in 2015. Costs to treat these diseases are increasing even as they become more common. In 2015, the cost of cancer drugs rose by 11.5 percent to (4) worldwide. Experts believe that will rise to $150 billion by 2020. They say the increase is mostly because of the cost of new drugs.

In a recent report, The Boston Consulting Group, a research organization, said the “cancer burden in developing countries is reaching pandemic proportions.” It notes that (5) die of cancer in India every year. It says the number of people with cancer in India could increase (6) by the year 2025.

China reported four million new cancer cases in 2016. The report noted that costs to care for people with cancer in China may increase (7) by 2025, to $1.84 trillion.

Gregory Winter is a professor at Cambridge University. He leads a team of researchers examining different ways to treat diseases like cancer. He reports some (8), but says the cost of treatment is too high for most people to pay. He says, “in general we will be struggling with cost problems. The cost of antibody treatment can be in the order of $15,000–(9) per year and that’s a lot for anybody.”

Some reports in China note that people with cancer, and family members who care for them, must pay a lot of money for cancer-fighting drugs. The report says some families buy drugs in unofficial markets. However, it warns that some of the drugs in these markets may be (10) or fake.

Agencies in China that approve drugs work slowly. Some drugs are not available in China for as long as 10 years after they have been approved in the United States. Professor Winter says such delays also take place in India. He says some Asian countries should “take more risks during the (11).”

Asian countries also are facing increasing costs for caring for the growing number of people affected by strokes and dementia. In 2012, the WHO reported that 35.6 million people worldwide are living with dementia. It predicted that would increase to (12) in 2030 and 115.4 million by 2050. The report said almost 60 percent of those with dementia live in (13) countries. That percentage is expected to increase.

The WHO wrote that the huge cost of care drives millions of families into poverty. It says dealing with the increases should be a “public health priority.” Valery Feigin is a director of the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences at Auckland University of Technology. In (14), his research showed a link between air pollution and strokes. The researchers found that the harm air pollution causes to the lungs, heart and brain has been (15).