2007年VOA标准英语-Rwanda AIDS Conference Targets Programs for Chi

By Cathy Majtenyi
Kigali
18 June 2007

About 700,000 children worldwide are being infected with HIV every year, the majority of who live in developing countries. But there are many challenges in finding, testing, and treating these children, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Cathy Majtenyi is attending an international AIDS conference in the Rwandan capital of Kigali and files this report for VOA.

Dr. Agnes Binagwaho told conference participants that children who may have been exposed to HIV have the right to be tested and informed of their HIV status.

But the head of Rwanda's Commission Nationale de Lutte Contre le SIDA says there are many obstacles blocking children from realizing what she calls this "human rights issue."

"Because parents feel themselves responsible for the HIV status of their children, they cannot face the situation for themselves," she said. "Parents do not know how to talk about AIDS with their children. But, more than that, health workers fail to manage and treat children infected by HIV. They do not know when and how to prescribe ARVs [antiretroviral drugs]. They do not have sufficient skills on how to counsel children."

destitute1 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (2005 photo)  " hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070628/1446350.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

A six-month-old, HIV-positive baby is held up by a woman who did not want to be identified in a home for the destitute in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (2005 photo)

Besides stigma² associated with HIV/AIDS, experts say inadequate³ HIV testing, treatment, and counseling facilities for children also make identifying and treating HIV-positive children in Africa very difficult.

Experts making presentations at the HIV/AIDS Implementers' Meeting being held in Kigali said that health care professionals can begin to look for potentially HIV-positive children in prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs, available in most countries.

Most HIV-positive children are infected during the birth and nursing process.

A medical official with Tororo District Hospital in Uganda, John Obonyo, explains how his hospital locates HIV positive children.

"We are trying to reach, through the mother, the infected child and the families," he said. "So what we do in the routine counseling and testing is that when we identify a family with an individual who is HIV positive, this being the mother, or even the child, we also try to map out where they are located and seek their permission to visit their homes in order to follow up the families as well.

Among initiatives being used or recommended in African facilities include: training health care workers on how to test children for HIV and counsel positive children and their families; encouraging HIV positive parents to test their children; extending HIV testing and counseling services to pediatric wards⁴ in hospitals and communities; and working with the media to expose the issue of children and HIV/AIDS.

The four-day HIV/AIDS Implementers' Meeting is being sponsored by the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, along with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis⁵ and Malaria⁶, the World Bank, and three U.N. agencies.

Following the conference theme, "Scaling Up Through Partnerships," about 2,000 participants from around the globe are looking at ways of how governments, business, the health care sector⁷ and others can collaborate⁸ in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Sub-Saharan Africa is particularly hard hit by the scourge⁹. Although the continent contains 10 percent of the world's population, it is home to almost 70 percent of people around the globe living with HIV/AIDS.

The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is a five-year, $15 billion initiative to help countries treat and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

1 destitute   

adj.缺乏的；穷困的

参考例句：

• They were destitute of necessaries of life.他们缺少生活必需品。
• They are destitute of common sense.他们缺乏常识。

2 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

3 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

4 wards   

区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态

参考例句：

• This hospital has 20 medical [surgical] wards. 这所医院有 20 个内科[外科]病房。
• It was a big constituency divided into three wards. 这是一个大选区，下设三个分区。

5 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。

6 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。

7 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

8 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

9 scourge   

n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏

参考例句：

• Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
• The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后，不称职的人就遭殃了。