VOA标准英语2010-HIV/AIDS Study says Death of a Mother Mor

Joe DeCapua 22 April 2010

“We could establish that children who lost their mother before the age of 15 had typically a year less schooling¹ compared to children who didn’t experience these kind of events..."

It’s estimated that 15 million children have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS.  But research shows the death of the mother to the disease can have a much greater and longer lasting² effect on a child than the death of the father.

 

The study is based on the lives of over 700 children in Kagera, Tanzania from the early 1990s to 2004.  Oxford³ University researchers say they found the role of the mother is “more essential” to the long-term well-being⁴ of a child.

Stefan Dercon, professor of development economics at Oxford, says, “Our interest was in trying to start to look at longer term impacts of what’s been happening with the HIV/AIDS crisis.”

Many had believed that the loss of the breadwinner father would have greater consequences because of the economic loss to a family.  But that’s not what Dercon and the Oxford team found.

“The impacts of losing a mother were substantially higher and statistically⁵ much more significant than anything we could pin down in losing the father in the family,” he says.

Not just emotional effects

“We could establish that children who lost their mother before the age of 15 had typically a year less schooling compared to children who didn’t experience these kind of events during their childhood.  They similarly were two centimeters shorter than otherwise similar children,” he says.

He describes these effects as significant.

“Given that average schooling is only about five years or five and a half years, that’s a substantially lower level of schooling on average for children who’ve lost their mothers,” he says.

Dercon adds, “Similarly two centimeters is actually quite substantial.  I was told not so long ago that’s more or less equivalent to the height gain that was obtained in the U.S. over a 50 year period during the 20th Century. So these are quite big differences.”

And studies show that taller people often earn more money than shorter people and are often considered better at physical labor⁶.

Central, crucial

The findings, he says, highlights the “central role that a mother plays in mediating⁷ what’s happening in the family.”

“Somehow they tend to know their children better, their nutritional⁸ needs, their other needs and so on.  And the fact that she’s not present anymore may well have a big impact in the way a child gets the opportunities it gets within the family,” he says.

He calls the role of the mother “crucial in terms of translating resources into the well-being of children,” adding, “It’s just highlighting how important a mother would be in being able to respond much better to the needs of children.

The study also finds that the economic effects of the death of a breadwinner may not be as big as once thought.

“We probably overstated the economic impact of the HIV/AIDS crisis.  And that the way the impacts have worked through families has been far more subtle.  And in our case we can show it did work via maternal⁹ orphanhood¹⁰, for example, as one of the possible mechanisms¹¹, rather than this kind of total dramatic, pure economic income related effects that people have highlighted,” he says.

The findings may lead to new programs to help families affected¹² by the epidemic¹³.

“I would be cautious in saying let’s now not give any support to families where the father died and only give it to the families where mothers died.  That would be quite wrong to actually conclude from this kind of work.  But what we can say is that if we don’t take into account carefully the caring relationships within the family, we’re not really going necessarily to reach the children that are affected directly,” he says.

Dercon says HIV/AIDS has created a generation of children, who may be “disadvantaged for the rest of their lives.”

 

1 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

2 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

3 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

4 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

5 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 mediating   

调停，调解，斡旋( mediate的现在分词 )； 居间促成； 影响…的发生； 使…可能发生

参考例句：

• So many factors are mediating. 如此众多的因素在起作用。
• The contrast in mediating noted in the sitting room. 客厅中注重了调和中的对比。

8 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

9 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

10 orphanhood   

孤儿的身份，孤儿状态

参考例句：

11 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

13 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。