VOA标准英语2008年-Conference to Press AIDS Battle

Universal Action Now is the theme of the upcoming International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. From Washington, VOA's William Eagle reports that among the factors that will be discussed at the conference are a lack of political will to allocate¹ funding, and discrimination against those who are HIV positive.

Five years ago, a gang of men stoned to death South African AIDS activist² Gugu Dlamini. Her offense³: she announced on a Zulu language radio station that she was HIV-positive.

Violence is just one result of the stigma⁴ surrounding the disease and its carriers. This case and similar stories of abuse prompted Justice Edwin Cameron of South Africa to attend the Mexico City gathering⁵ this year.

Cameron, who is HIV-positive, will lead a plenary session about one of the factors fueling stigma - the criminalization of those living with HIV.

The South Africa Supreme⁶ Court of Appeals justice says 11 African countries [including Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Liberia] have statutes⁸ that can be used to prosecute⁹ HIV-positive people who do not inform their partners of their infection - even if they have not spread the virus.

Justice Cameron says the result is up to 30 million Africans who are likely carrying the virus, fail to get diagnosed. "The point I will make at the conference is that those statutes, apart from their very broad and vague wording, are very bad for the central issue of the epidemic¹⁰, which is getting treatment to people. With criminal laws like that on the statute⁷ books, people are not going to want to be tested. Why would you if you are going to expose yourself to prosecution¹¹?," he said.

Cameron is just one of 17 guest speakers to lead discussions on topics that are discouraging people from seeking treatment or gaining universal access to HIV medicine.

Other speakers include Malaysian AIDS Council president Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman.

She will address the conference on the legal obstacles to ending HIV transmission among people who inject drugs, a leading cause of the spread of AIDS worldwide. "Prevention needs to be strengthened ... It is about evidence-based HIV prevention like needle exchange programs and authority [to initiate] opiate substitution programs ..."

Dr. Adeeba explains that two non-addictive medicines, methadone and bupenorphine, can be given to wean drug users from heroin¹². Outreach workers can also provide them with clean needles.

But she says criminalization of drug use discourages some from seeking treatment. It also makes those who are HIV-positive more vulnerable to blood-borne infections like hepatitis-C.

She wants a debate over U.N. and national impediments to these strategies, such as zero tolerance¹³ policies that ban needle exchanges or the use of non-addictive opiate substitutes to prevent the spread of HIV among drug users who use needles.

The Buenos Aires based International Aids Society based in is conducting the Mexico City conference. Its president, Pedro Cahn says the meeting will also address a charge made by some - that the attention to HIV treatment and prevention weakens underdeveloped health care systems.

Dr. Cahn rejects the charge. "This is important because some voices have been raised claiming that we are putting too much money into the AIDS struggle and are weakening health-care systems, which is absolutely not true ... African health-care systems were not OK before [the AIDS epidemic] and have become better after the opening of clinics. [Now] people have at least one point of care in areas where nothing happened before."

He says activists¹⁴ at the conference are likely to encourage the integration¹⁵ of reproductive health services with treatment for illnesses that further weaken immune systems infected with the HIV virus, like tuberculosis¹⁶ and sexually transmitted diseases. They say the effort would not only strengthen national health-care systems, but help meet the U.N. goal of ensuring universal access to AIDS prevention and treatment by 2010.

 

1 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

2 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

3 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

4 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。

5 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

7 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

8 statutes   

成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程

参考例句：

• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Each agency is also restricted by the particular statutes governing its activities. 各个机构的行为也受具体法令限制。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

9 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

10 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。

11 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

12 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

13 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

14 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

16 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。