Experts Say AIDS and Hunger Increasing

 

Steve Baragona

Experts have told the U.S. Senate that AIDS and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa are making each other worse. The testimony¹ before the Foreign Relations Committee comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) releases its 2004 World Health Report.

The World Health Organization says an estimated six million people will die of AIDS soon unless they receive treatment, but treatment is reaching less than one-tenth of them. In its 2004 World Health Report (released last week), the WHO says AIDS is the biggest public health challenge facing the world today, but the report also notes that the international community is focusing more attention and political will on the disease than ever before. Executive Director Richard Feachem of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis² and Malaria³ said that there's more good news.

"Availability of finance is no longer the binding⁴ constraint⁵ in doing what we need to do around the world. Large amounts of new finance are available," he said. "And the cost of the drugs is no longer the binding constraint. Fixed⁶ dose combinations of anti-retroviral drugs are now available for prices of around $150 a year. Which is an extreme reduction as compared to a few years ago."

The WHO has launched a plan to make AIDS drugs available to three million people by 2005. Experts say money spent on improving access to AIDS treatment in the developing world will also help improve health care systems overall.

But when AIDS relief workers in Africa ask many villagers what they need most, Executive Director James Morris of the U.N. World Food Program says drugs are not at the top of the list. "The first thing they ask for is food," he said.

Mr. Morris told the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the AIDS epidemic⁷ is creating a downward spiral of hunger and disease in Africa. Of the more than 40 million people worldwide with HIV, some two-thirds of them are living in poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. More than seven million farm workers in the region have died of AIDS so far, and another 16 million are expected to die by 2020. Fewer farmers means less food and Mr. Morris says the loss of those farmers often means children and the elderly have to take over.

"The seven million lives that have been lost in agriculture or the two-plus-million that were lost last year, are the most productive people," he noted⁸. "You will see a grandmother in her 70s, very slight, often looking after 20 or 30 children and she has nothing."

U.S. Global AIDS coordinator⁹ Randall Tobias told the committee that those living with AIDS are often too weak to plant and tend enough crops. Families of people with AIDS are often forced to sell livestock¹⁰ to pay for food, medicine or even funerals. That makes their food supply even less secure. What's worse, malnutrition¹¹ weakens the immune system, making people with AIDS more vulnerable to opportunistic infections and Mr. Tobias says AIDS drugs don't work as well when patients are hungry.

"Without access to safe and adequate food, people are less able to effectively respond to AIDS treatment," he said. "Moreover, drug resistance grows if people fail to stay with their treatment regimens. Persons living with HIV/AIDS, but without access to sufficient food have less time to focus on care and they pay less attention to issues of prevention."

Mr. Tobias also noted that people fleeing food crises can spread HIV. It is a vicious cycle: hunger worsens AIDS, and AIDS worsens hunger and it's part of the reason that the WHO's new report says the epidemic threatens parts of sub-Saharan Africa with economic collapse¹². So the World Food Program's Mr. Morris says it's essential to coordinate¹³ AIDS relief and prevention programs with hunger relief and prevention programs.

"Everyone understands it takes all the ingredients to get at this," he added. "No one approach will solve the problem."

Mr. Morris says private donors¹⁴, government agencies and non-governmental organizations are all working together to relieve the twin epidemics¹⁵ of AIDS and hunger.
注释：
testimony [5testimEni] n. 证明，证据
Foreign Relations Committee 参议院外交关系委员会
World Health Report 世界卫生组织的报告
Global Fund 全球基金
Tuberculosis [tju7bE:kju5lEusis] n. 肺结核
Malaria [mE5lAriE] 疟疾
anti-retroviral 抗逆转路病毒
launch [lC:ntF] v. 推出，开始
James Morris詹姆士·莫理斯（联合国粮食计划署执行总监）
World Food Program 世界粮食计划署，简称WFP
spiral [5spaiErEl] n. 螺线
take over 接管
coordinator [kEu5C:dineitE] n. 协调者，调度员
Randall Tobias 兰达尔·托比尔斯（美国全球艾滋病防治项目协调官）
tend [tend] v. 照管
livestock [5laivstCk] n. 家畜，牲畜
malnutrition [5mAlnju(:)5triFEn] n. 营养失调，营养不良
immune system 免疫系统
opportunistic [9CpEtjU:5nIstIk] adj. 机会主义的
regimen [5redVimen] n. 疗法
vicious cycle 恶性循环
epidemic [7epi5demik] n. 时疫，流行病
coordinate [kEu5C:dinit] vt. 调整
ingredient [in5^ri:diEnt] n. 因素
approach [E5prEutF] n. 途径，方法

1 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

2 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

3 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

4 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

5 constraint   

n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物

参考例句：

• The boy felt constraint in her presence.那男孩在她面前感到局促不安。
• The lack of capital is major constraint on activities in the informal sector.资本短缺也是影响非正规部门生产经营的一个重要制约因素。

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

10 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

11 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

12 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

13 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

14 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。