BBC NEWS 1/2

Which diseases are the biggest killers?

Listen to the first part of the news and make notes on the story. Then read the article
below and circle the facts that are mentioned in both the article and the news. You can
listen to the story again.

The Times
Typhoid vaccine 'works
fantastically well'
A new typhoid vaccine works
"fantastically well" and is
being used to help stop an
almost untreatable strain of
the infection, doctors say.
Cases of the bacterial
disease fell by more than 80%
in trials, published in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
Experts said the vaccine
was a game-changer and
would reduce the "terrible toll
wrought by typhoid".
Nine million children
1/2
are being immunised in
Pakistan, where typhoid is
now extremely resistant to
antibiotics.
Precise numbers on
typhoid are hard to collect
but it affects between 11 and
21 million people around the
world each year and kills
128,000 to 161,000.
More than 20,000 children
- aged from nine months to 16
years - in Kathmandu Valley,
Nepal, took part in the trial.
Typhoid is a major public-
health problem in the area.
Half of the children were
given the vaccine and their
cases of typhoid fell by 81%
in the first year of the study.
"It works fantastically well
in preventing this disease
affecting some of the world's
most vulnerable children,"
Prof Andrew Pollard, from the
University of Oxford, who has
been involved in the trials,
said.
"The burden of typhoid is
so huge, we're seeing families
taking children into hospital to
be treated and being plunged
into poverty paying for the
costs of investigation and
treatment with antibiotics.
"The arrival of this vaccine
to control the disease is a
pretty exciting moment."
The children in Nepal,
as well as those taking
part in trials in Malawi and
Bangladesh, will now be
followed to see how long
protection lasts.

Which vaccines are children given in your country?

In which countries do you think torture is used?
Listen to the next part of the news and make notes on the story. Use what you learn
from the radio story to complete the gaps in the article below. Then listen again and
check your ideas.

December 2019
The Independent
Torture on the Increase Globally
The charity, Freedom from
Torture, has concluded that
torture is being increasingly
used in many countries and
that more governments are
prepared to condone it. India,
Sri Lanka, __________, Turkey,
Iran and Brazil are all accused
by the charity of either
using or endorsing torture.
Freedom from Torture blames
the increase on the worldwide
rise in populism and criticised
President Trump for appointing
Gina Haspel as head of the
_____________, even though
BBC NEWS 2/2

it is alleged that she led a Freedom from Torture acceptable.

waterboarding programme at
a CIA base in ______________.
The charity also points out
that President Trump wants
to make Marshall Billingsley
head of the US government's
main ____________________
despite him being an
outspoken supporter of
harsh interrogation methods.
says other countries are
emboldened by these actions
and feel it is acceptable to
torture their own __________
as a result. The charity also
commissioned a YouGov
opinion poll which found that
____ per cent of British people
think there are circumstances
in which torture might be

Do you think there are circumstances in which torture might be acceptable?

Is homelessness an issue where you live?
Listen to the next part of the news and make notes on the story. Use what you learn
from the radio story to complete the gaps in the article below with the correct figures.
Then listen again and check your ideas.

The Guardian

It estimates that a child homeless children.

loses their home every
eight minutes – more than
_____ children per day. At
this rate, 1,647 children will
become homeless between
now and the general
election on 12 December,
and more than 4,000 by 25
December.
London has the highest
Thousands of children concentration of homeless
in Britain to be youngsters, up 33%
homeless at Christmas since 2014. About 88,000
At least ___________ children were in temporary
children will be homeless accommodation in the
and living in temporary capital at the beginning of
accommodation across 2019 – equivalent to one in
Britain on Christm as day every ___ children.
– the highest number for The capital has 26 of the
____ years – according to 30 British local authorities
the housing charity Shelter. with the highest rates of
Outside London, the
places worst affected were:
Luton (one in ___ children);
Brighton & Hove (one in
30); Manchester (one in
47); and Slough (one in
53).
Polly Neate, Shelter ’s
chief executive, said: “The
fact 183 children become
homeless every day is a
scandalous figure and a
sharp reminder that political
promises about tackling
homelessness must be
turned into real action.
The government
says it is providing
£______________ to help
local authorities tackle all
types of homelessness.

What do you think is the biggest cause of homelessness?

How would you rate the education system where you live?
Listen to the final story and make notes on the back of the page. Then write a short
article including the facts you noted down. Remember to include a headline.
Do you know where your country ranks in the survey?
BBC NEWS
teacher’s notes: page 1 student pages: 2
Transcript
1 Scientists say a new vaccine against typhoid has
cut cases of the disease by more than 80 per cent
in trials. The jab has been described as a game
changer in tackling the disease which kills up to
160,000 people around the world every year.
Here's our health and science correspondent
James Gallagher. Typhoid fever is caused by
highly contagious bacteria that are spread through
contaminated food and water. It mostly affects
the poorest parts of the world where paying for
2 A charity is warning that the use of torture is on the
rise in many countries and that more governments
are prepared to condone its use. A YouGov opinion
poll carried out for the group Freedom from Torture
has also found that 29 per cent of British people
think there are circumstances in which torture might
be acceptable. Here's our World Affairs Editor John
Simpson. Among the countries accused of using
or endorsing torture are India, Sri Lanka, Egypt,
Turkey, Iran and Brazil. Freedom from Torture
blames this on the worldwide rise in populism
3 A report estimates at least 135,000 children in
Britain will be living in temporary accommodation
on Christmas Day. The charity Shelter says this is
the highest figure for 12 years. The government
says it is providing £1.2 billion to help local
authorities tackle all types of homelessness. Our
education and family correspondent Lisa Hampele
reports. Shelter says it's scandalous that so many
children are homeless. More than 180 children
are going into temporary accommodation like bed
and breakfasts and hostels every day, it says, and
they're often substandard and lack privacy and
security with little space for families to cook, eat
4 The UK has improved its overall rankings in
influential education tests which measure the
ability of teenagers across 80 countries. But
Britain's progress was described as modest by
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development which oversees the PISA education
exams. It also found that teenagers here were less
happy and more concerned about bullying than in
many other countries. Here's our education editor
Branwen Jeffreys. These influential tests measure
the skills and knowledge of 15-year-olds when
applied to real-life scenarios. The results have
treatment can plunge an entire family into poverty.
20,000 children in Nepal took part in the trial and
half were immunized. The results, in the New
England Journal of Medicine, showed the vaccine
cut cases of typhoid by more than 80 percent. The
team at Oxford University which helped develop the
vaccine say it worked fantastically well. New ways
of tackling typhoid are needed. The World Health
Organization has already warned the bug has
acquired a crazy amount of antibiotic resistance.
and in particular on President Trump's approach.
He appointed the current CIA head Gina Haspel,
even though she'd been allegedly in charge of
waterboarding and other brutal treatment at a CIA
base in Thailand. And now President Trump wants
to make an outspoken supporter of these methods,
Marshall Billingsley, head of the US government's
main human rights agency. Freedom from Torture
says such decisions make other countries believe
it's acceptable to torture their own prisoners.
and live. Using data from the government's official
homelessness statistics, the charity also found
that one in 24 children in London are in temporary
accommodation, but Luton has the highest rate in
Britain with one in 22. Shelter describes the impact
on children across the country as devastating. It
says many are being uprooted from friends, living
in cold cramped B&Bs and going to bed at night
scared by the sound of strangers outside. The
charity says the figures are a sharp reminder that
political promises about tackling homelessness
must be turned into real action.
shaped changes to education systems across the
UK. In reading and science the UK has improved
relative to other countries, moving to 14th place. In
maths, the UK overall has moved up to 18th place
from 27th in 2015. Andrea Schleicher from the
OECD said at the current rate of change it would
take a very long time before the UK caught up with
the leading countries such as China, Singapore
and Estonia, and the UK does poorly on another
important measure, only 53 percent of teenagers
said they were happy compared with 67 per cent
across almost 80 nations in these tests.