2006年VOA标准英语-Ghana Working to Expand AIDS Treatment

By Efam Dovi
Accra
16 August 2006
 

In Ghana an estimated 400,000 of the country's 20 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS. But, in a country where the majority of the people are classified as poor, getting the proper treatment to these people is a major problem.

This is the Fevers Unit of Ghana's premier¹ hospital, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, and a health care assistant is delivering materials to consulting rooms, to get the day's clinic for outpatients under way.

Seated in line along the corridors are mostly people infected with HIV/AIDS.

This patient, Abdullah, discovered four years ago he had HIV when he lost his wife to the disease. His son, now seven is also HIV positive, so they are both on anti-retroviral therapy, or ARV, the cost of which is about 90 percent subsidized by the government. But Abdullah says it is still not easy to afford the treatment.

"When you come [to the] clinic, [they do not only give you] anti-retroviral drugs, they will add some food supplements, so if you weigh at times the drugs that they add to the ARV is more even costly² than the ARV," he explained. "Maybe you may be given two months drugs, which 100,000 [cedis - which equals $11], but the extra drugs that they will write for you will cost over 200 - 300 [thousand cedis, $22 to $33] ... you see like me, myself and my son, at times to buy drugs, I have to credit."

Like Abdullah, Dorcas, 39, has been out of work due to ill health. Her husband left when she tested positive for HIV/AIDs and her family also abandoned her. Dorcas says getting money for treatment is a big problem for her.

"Sometimes it is difficult for me to get the money to buy the medicine," she said. "I borrow money from a friend before I get the medicine. My eating too is the problem."

Dr. Herietta Arhin, who is training at the unit, says getting the money for treatments and tests is one of the major challenges for patients.

"Basic ones like knowing your hemoglobin level, your kidney function test, your liver function test, your CD-4 count, those ones are free, but there are still some other things that the patient needs to pay for, like the vitamins and the Septrine they take. They need to buy it on their own, certain labs like a chest X-ray being done, they need to go and pay for it," she said.

Dr. Arhin says even with the government subsidy³ and occasional private donations, not every patient eligible⁴ to receive anti-retroviral therapy is able to pay for a full treatment, and this presents a problem for the hospital.

"When you need to start drug (treatment) we need to be sure that you can continue taking it because we do not want there to be a break in the course of the treatment," she explained.

About 80,000 AIDS patients in Ghana need anti-retroviral therapy, but only a small fraction of them - about 5,000 - get all the treatments that health experts say is necessary to help infected people lead normal lives.

Professor Sakyi Awuku Amoa is the director general of Ghana's AIDS Commission, a government body that manages and coordinates⁵ the country's response to the disease. He says Ghana will soon embark⁶ on a plan that will enable it to treat many more AIDS patients.

"Because the cost is very high, because we need to train physicians before they administer the drug, because hospitals need to prepare properly it has not been possible to put all these 79,000 on the drug," he said. "So, this is where we have developed a plan to make sure that gradually those who need it can go on it. Our plan is that by December this year 16,000 people would have been put on the drug, by next year June 2007 about 30,000 people would have been put on the drug."

There are 27 centers across Ghana where people living with HIV/AIDS can access treatment services, and according Professor Amoa there is a program in place to expand access.

"By next year, 50 percent of our district assemblies (hospitals) would have also been prepared to make sure that service will be delivered at the local levels," he said. "So there is a consistent plan to make sure access becomes universal, that treatment can be received at any center where it is necessary, and as much as possible we [are] working towards that universal access for treatment, care and support."

Until that target of universal access is reached, HIV/AIDS sufferers in Ghana, in one patient's words, "can only hope that the world finds a cure sooner than later."

1 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

2 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

3 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

4 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

5 coordinates   

n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• The town coordinates on this map are 695037. 该镇在这幅地图上的坐标是695037。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• 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。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。