VOA常速英语2016--活动人士：西非HIV治疗滞后（在线收听）

Activists: HIV Treatment Lagging in West Africa 活动人士：西非HIV治疗滞后

ABIDJAN—

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS is relatively low in West Africa compared to the rest of Africa, but treatment rates there are equally low, say activists and health care workers. In Ivory Coast, about two-thirds of people living with HIV/AIDS are not on antiretroviral treatment.

Stéphane Alliali Dié Kouamé walks one neighborhood in Abidjan every day to visit people living with HIV/AIDS.

史蒂芬·阿亚利·迪埃·古阿梅每天都会在阿比让邻近地区走访艾滋病患者。

Treatment with antiretroviral drugs can reduce mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy and birth.

抗逆转录病毒药物治疗能够降低在怀孕和生产时母婴之间的传播。

Kouamé works for the local NGO Lumière Action, which runs a treatment center nearby. He says people fall out of treatment for many reasons.

古阿梅为当地的非政府组织Lumière Action工作，这一组织在附近开设了一家治疗中心。他说人们因为很多原因放弃治疗。

Some become discouraged. Some become misguided by charlatans touting cures. Others don’t have enough money to pay for transport to the clinic. And then, there is the stigma.

一些人是丧失了勇气，一些人是被兜售药物的江湖骗子所误导。还有一些是没有足够的路费到诊所。然后，还认为是耻辱的事情。

“Just last week, a couple came to the clinic and they recognized one of the nurses, so they didn’t want to come back to get their treatment. They asked me to bring it to them. They stigmatize themselves sometimes.”

“就在上周，一对夫妇来到诊所，他们认出了其中一位护士，因此他们就不想再来接受治疗，他们要求我把治疗药物带给他们。他们有时候会认为自己是耻辱的。”

The clinic also offers free HIV tests. Ivory Coast made antiretroviral medications free in 2008. Since then, the percentage of people on ARV’s has doubled to about 30 percent, but aid groups say that is still too low.Clinics frequently run out of stock.

这一诊所也提供免费的HIV检测。2008年科特迪瓦提供免费的抗逆转录病毒药物。自那时起，接受抗逆转录病毒治疗的病人百分比翻倍，达到30%，但是急救队说这一比例仍旧很低。诊所还经常药物库存不足。

“For first line treatment, there is no problem. But for the second line, there are always stocks outs. We are people living with HIV/AIDS. We are told we have a lifelong treatment to follow. We cannot understand that today there are stock outs.”

“在一期治疗时，一般没问题。但是二期治疗时，总是会库存不足。我们是艾滋病患者，我们被告知要接受终身的治疗，我们不能理解现在药物库存没了。”

Since last year, an alert system has been implemented. When a clinic runs out of stock, it contacts RIP PLUS, a coalition of 68 Afri-local NGOs working on the HIV/AIDS. The PLUS gets in touch with the Ivorian authorities to try to get the medicine.

自去年起，开始实行一项警报系统。当诊所药物库存不足时，就会联系RIP PLUS机构，这是一家由68所非洲当地从事于艾滋病的非政府组织联合的机构。这一团体和科特迪瓦当局联系尽力获得药物。

Treatment with antiretroviral drugs can slow the virus’ spread in the body and delay the onset of AIDS.

抗逆转录病毒药物治疗可以放缓体内病毒的传播而且可以推迟艾滋病的发作。

Antiretroviral drugs or ARV’s, in Ivory Coast are financed by initiatives like The Global Fund to Fight AIDS and PEPFAR (The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), along with the government, but the demand remains high and so is the cost.

在科特迪瓦，抗逆转录病毒药物是由一些组织资助的，比如抗击艾滋病全球基金会以及PEPFAR（美国总统为艾滋病救济发布的应急计划），还有科特迪瓦政府，但是需求和花费一直居高不下。

“We could better the situation by producing the ARV’s locally. Not necessarily within the country, but within the sub-region. That could lower the costs.”

“我们能够通过当地生产抗逆转录病毒药物来改善当前的情况。不一定是在国内，可以是在次区域内，这样可以降低成本。”

About 80 percent of ARV’s used in Africa are imported from abroad and many countries are pushing to produce locally. South Africa recently announced the creation of a state-owned company to manufacture ARV’s there.

在非洲，大约有80%的抗逆转录病毒药物是从海外进口的，而且许多国家都支持地方生产药物。南非最近宣布创立生产抗逆转录病毒药物的国有公司。