艾滋病

　　Get your act together, guys

　　“筒子”们，一起行动吧！

　　Two UN reports on AIDS are coming out this month. That is one too many

　　联合国将于本月发布两份艾滋报告，其中一份纯属多余。

　　SOMETHING odd is going on in the international AIDS establishment. December 1st has been designated (as it is every year) to be “World AIDS Day”. That is a signal for the United Nations to put out a report on the state of the epidemic. This year, though, there are to be two reports.

　　国际艾滋机构出现了一件怪事：12月1日被定为每年的“国际艾滋日”，这意味着联合国将会就艾滋状况发布一份报告。可是，今年的报告实际将会有两份。

　　On November 21st UNAIDS, an agency created in 1996 to deal specifically with the then-newish disease, published its assessment of the situation. This reaffirmed what has become clear recently: that the epidemic is being beaten back by the widespread deployment of drugs, in combination with changes in the behaviour of those most at risk. The annual number of deaths has fallen to 1.8m, from its peak of 2.2m in 2005. New infections have also fallen, from a peak of 3.2m in 1997 to 2.7m last year. The report went on to outline what it calls an investment framework, designed to deal with the epidemic in the most cost-effective way. This builds on an analysis published in the Lancet in June by Bernhard Schwartl?nder, UNAIDS’s director of evidence, strategy and results. It attempts to prescribe, for each part of the world, the mixture of drug treatment, condom-promotion, prophylactic circumcision and so on that will bring most benefit to the fight.

　　11月21日，联合国艾滋病规划署（成立于1996年，是一个专门应对当时才刚兴起的艾滋病机构）发表了一份艾滋现状的评估报告，重申了近来一些显著的事实：得益于药物的广泛使用及最易感染人群行为的改善，艾滋病出现消退之势。年死亡人数从2005年220万的峰值降至180万，新增感染人数也同样减少，从1997年的320万最高值跌至去年的270万。该报告继续阐述所谓的投资框架，旨在最合算地应对艾滋病。投资框架由艾滋规划署官员施贺德6月发表在《柳叶刀》的一篇分析报告而来，它试图为世界每个地区都开一份有助于艾滋抗争的综合处方，包括药物治疗，推广使用避孕套和预防性包皮环切等等。

　　On November 30th, however, a joint report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations’ Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and—you’ve guessed it—UNAIDS comes out. What it will say is still under wraps. But WHO and UNICEF are also sponsors of UNAIDS, so the duplication of effort looks odd.

　　然而，11月30日，世界卫生组织，联合国儿童基金会和联合国艾滋病规划署又将发布另一份联合报告，报告内容尚未对外界透露。由于世卫组织和儿童基金会同时是艾滋规划署的发起人，所以这样的重复工作有点奇怪。

　　Both sides seem miffed by the other’s actions. Michel Sidibé, the head of UNAIDS, described the production of separate reports as “costly and inefficient”. Gottfried Hirnschall, the WHO’s director of HIV/AIDS, says it had been agreed that in 2011 the three organisations would work together and jointly release a single report.

　　双方似乎都因对方的行为略显愠怒。联合国艾滋病规划署事务长西迪贝称两份独立的报告“费钱又没效”。世卫组织艾滋病司司长赫恩斯歇尔则说三者经过商定，决定于2011年携手合作并发布联合报告。

　　Though the AIDS epidemic has been knocked back by the huge sums of money now being thrown at it (about $15 billion a year at the moment, in poor and middle-income countries), continued success requires an uninterrupted supply of drugs—and therefore of the cash to pay for them. The state of the world’s economy means politicians are looking for any excuse to save money. Not a good moment to be squabbling.

　　尽管由于巨量的投资额（目前每年投150亿美元给贫穷国家和中等收入国家），艾滋病暂时得以消退。但持续的成功需要不间断的药物供给——当然还有购买药物的资金。世界经济的现状意味着政客们正寻找一切可能的借口省钱。这可不是一个互相争吵的好时候。

　　epidemic n.传染病, 流行病 assessment n. 估价; 评价 framework n. 构架, 骨架 duplication n. 副本; 复制 inefficient adj. 无效率的 knock back 回击