HIV/AIDS features in news stories almost every day of the ye（在线收听）

Gary:  HIV/AIDS features in news stories almost every day of the year.  It’s a subject that concerns us all – the politicians who lead our countries, health workers of all kinds and at every level, and, of course, the people infected with HIV, those who are living with AIDS – and their families. 

Clip VOX POPS  Comments from people in the field 

Gary:  In this series, we’re considering the major topics that appear in BBC World Service news programmes.  Today’s “big story” has a medical theme – we focus on HIV/AIDS.   I’ll be talking to the BBC World Service Science Correspondent and we’ll hear from a project worker who’s helping fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zambia. We’ll focus on some of the issues and the language behind the topic, and we’ll look at how the subject is reported in the news.   

Clip Richard Black, WS Science Correspondent

Richard: One term – HIV – refers to the virus, the thing that actually causes the disease.  Whereas the other term – AIDS – refers to the disease itself, the set of symptoms which the patient has.

Gary: BBC World Service Science Correspondent Richard Black.

Clip Richard Black, WS Science Correspondent

Richard: Now, the disease was discovered first.  It was then called a syndrome（综合症） because what happened was: patients were turning up with a certain collection of symptoms, and when doctors see this but they don’t know what’s causing the symptoms, they call this a syndrome.  The people were obviously suffering from an immune system that was not working properly – so hence “immune deficiency(缺乏，不足) syndrome”.  And it was obviously something that was not inherited（遗传的）, they were picking it up, they were acquiring it – hence Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.  Only later on did scientists find out what was actually causing this – and this is HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

Gary: If someone has AIDS – what does that mean in practical terms?

Richard: What it means basically is that their immune systems, their bodies, cannot fight off germs （细菌）that come along – so any bacterium（细菌）, any virus, any fungus（真菌） which comes along which can infect them, will infect them, and they will become sick with it.  There are other things that happen as well, for example, some infections（口腔病害） which lead to certain types of cancer are much more prevalent（流行的，普遍的） in people who have AIDS.  But that’s basically the idea: the immune system does not work properly, you cannot fight off infections.

Gary: So what we’re saying here is that you can have HIV without actually having AIDS – is that right?

Richard: That’s absolutely right.  Many people are infected with HIV – sometimes for years before they show the signs of AIDS.

Gary: What about the terms HIV positive and HIV negative?

Richard: HIV positive simply means that you are infected with HIV – you have the virus.  HIV negative simply means that you don’t.

Gary:HIV is a virus -- the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.  A person infected with HIV develops AIDS -- or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome – when their immune system eventually becomes too weak – or deficient – to fight off infections.  It’s possible to be infected with the virus, to be HIV positive, without developing the symptoms of AIDS for many years. As we’ve heard HIV/AIDS has been described as devastating epidemic – its impact is far reaching.

Clip  Richard Black, WS Science Correspondent

Richard: It is quite simply the disease which is changing the face of many communities on earth – particularly in sub-Saharan Africa but in the future, perhaps, in Asia as well.  It is having such a devastating effect on some communities that there are villages really where the entire middle sector of the population – the young adults, the economically productive people, the parents – are being removed from the population.  There are villages where there is virtually no one left but old people and young people because of AIDS.  And this is really unparalleled –certainly in modern experience. 

Gary: So we’ve said, then, that HIV/AIDS is an important issue in different parts of the world.  How does it appear in news stories?

Richard: There are several things which typically give rise to news stories about HIV and AIDS.  One is simply that there are a large number of international conferences looking at either the science of HIV/AIDS or funding for efforts to combat it.  And quite often some prominent members of the international community are there, and they will make speeches and this will get reported.  There are studies which come out, for example, into the economic consequences of HIV/AIDS.  So that’s another time when people will report it.  We have scientific developments – not as many as one would like, but they do happen, and when they happen, then we report those as well.  And there are some individual countries where there are particular political stories, which also put HIV/AIDS into the news. 

Gary: Finally, Richard, when as a journalist you’re reporting news stories about HIV/AIDS, is it difficult to find the sort of language to use to tell those stories?

Richard: I think it can be because when, for example, you’re talking about a scientific development you can use language which is rather too dry, rather too impersonal.  You can almost forget, while you’re writing the story, that there are 40 odd million people out there in the world who are infected with HIV.  This is a real life situation for them, and for their families, and for their communities.  On the other hand, when you’re dealing with the people side of it, when you’re talking about the communities which are very affected, then you can easily use words which many people would prefer you didn’t use – such as “sufferer”, such as “victim” which really … you can paint a picture of people who are hopeless – who have no hope in their daily lives.  Whereas, in fact, they may be doing the best they can to live a normal life, and have as decent(得体的) a life as they can under the circumstances, and labelling people as a “victim” where they may not feel they’re victims, is something that we always try not to do; but it’s as very easy trap to fall into.

Gary: BBC World Service Science Correspondent Richard Black.

The international development charity VSO runs several projects in Southern Africa in which volunteers from different countries around the world join forces with local government institutions and organisations to strengthen their response to HIV and AIDS. Stuart Sutherland is currently their country director in Zambia, and I asked him to describe the situation there – the scale of the epidemic and the impact it has on people’s lives.

Clip Stuart Sutherland, VSO Zambia

The scale is immense … [the full transcript is not available]

Gary: Stuart Sutherland , working with the international development charity VSO in Zambia. （本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）