2006年VOA标准英语-Global AIDS Epidemic Continues to Grow

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
21 November 2006

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UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot presents the annual AIDS epidemic update report in Geneva, Nov. 21, 2006

The global AIDS epidemic continues to grow leaving about 39.5 million people worldwide infected with the virus. The report by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization also shows that some countries that had been making progress in keeping the epidemic in check are backsliding. 

Latest data shows an estimated 39.5 million people around the world are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. According to the report, this means every eight seconds somebody in the world is infected with HIV, resulting in 11,000 people becoming newly infected every day.

The executive director of UNAIDS, Peter Piot, says most of the new infections, nearly two-thirds, are in Sub-Saharan Africa. But, the biggest increases are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where infection rates have risen by more than 50 percent since 2004. He says 2.9 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses this year, the highest number ever.

"So, what is new is that in the report besides this continuing progress of the epidemic is, as I said, that in some countries that were examples for the fight against AIDS that we see an increase in new infections," said Piot.  "We see that in Uganda. We see that to a certain extent in Thailand, across Western Europe, the United States and this really has to make us think how to sustain a response to AIDS in the long term because the AIDS epidemic will not be finished in a couple of years from now."

UNAIDS senior epidemiologist, Karen Stanecki, says infections are rising in countries where HIV prevention programs have not been sustained or have not adapted to the changing nature of the epidemics².

"In Uganda where latest national behavioral data shows erratic³ condom use and rising numbers of men who have sex with more than one sexual partner, there are signs of HIV prevalence rising again in some rural areas," noted⁴ Stanecki. "In Thailand, one of our past success stories, a large percentage of new HIV infections are occurring in people considered to be low risk. One third of new infections are among married women."

The report notes some positive trends in young peoples' sexual behaviors. It says data shows increased use of condoms, delay of sexual debut⁵ and fewer partners. This has resulted in declines in HIV prevalence among young people between 2000 and 2005 in a number of African countries, including Botswana, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Nevertheless, the report notes young people between the ages of 15 and 24 account for 40 percent of new HIV infections. It finds the overlap⁶ of high risk behavior, such as injecting drug use, unprotected paid sex and men who have sex with men, is a factor of concern in many regions of the world, especially in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

The report notes the emergence⁷ of injecting drug use as a factor of HIV in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and South Africa is a recent development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

1 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。

2 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。

3 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

4 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。

5 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

6 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

7 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。