VOA英语2010年-World AIDS Day: Saving Mothers, Saving Babie

The recent UNAIDS global report cited significant progress in preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. It says there have been fewer infections and fewer deaths among women and their newborns. One organization has played a major role in that success.

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation currently operates 5,000 sites in 17 countries. That's up from a mere¹ eight locations 10 years ago, when it started its international program.

Still a long way to go

Dr. Laura Guay (Gay), the foundation's vice² president of research, says, "We're very happy to see the new report that we've made significant progress in the last five years with the scale-up of services for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission globally. Whereas in 2004, only about 10 percent of pregnant women had access and were receiving antiretroviral drugs to protect their baby from HIV, in 2009 that number has gone up to 53 percent. "

 
Elizabeth Glaser pediatric AIDS Foundation
Mother, nurse and baby in PMTCT program
But Guay says thousands more pregnant women still need access to HIV prevention services.

"We still have a long way to go. Forty-seven percent of women still do not have access. So, while we celebrate the progress that's been made in the last five years, we look forward to accelerated progress in the next few years so that we can reach the remaining women," she says.

With a lot of effort, it can be done

Health officials, she says, foresee a time when the effort to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) will have succeeded and the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV will be eliminated.

"In order to do that, it requires a concerted effort from multiple parties and partners. And very specifically, ministries³ of health in countries have really gotten behind the message that this is possible for their populations and have invested in making PMTCT a priority for their health programs," Guay says.

There's also been a great deal of international support from PEPFAR – the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis⁴ and Malaria⁵ and UNAIDS, among others.

But following the global economic crisis, funding isn't as free flowing as it once was.

Dr. Guay says, "I think it's a challenge for all of us to figure out how to do what we're doing more effectively with a more cost-effective system, to evaluate models of service delivery. Look at ways we can improve the efficiencies of our programs. To look at making sure that these are done in a way that we can get the most effect out of the limited resources we have possible."

She says before these programs were available, many women had lost hope of having a child that was not infected with HIV and feared that they, too, would succumb⁶ to the disease.

"Yet, we see then that these women are able to get supportive services. They're having HIV negative children. And those women are then becoming the spokespersons for both the (health) ministry⁷, the facilities and in their community, saying that, you know, this is what can happen if you access the services," she says.

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation supported programs account for 25 percent of the services available worldwide to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

1 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

4 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。

5 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。

6 succumb   

v.屈服，屈从；死

参考例句：

• They will never succumb to the enemies.他们决不向敌人屈服。
• Will business leaders succumb to these ideas?商业领袖们会被这些观点折服吗？

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。