VOA标准英语2010年-South Africa Tackles Prevention of Mot

Abandoned HIV positive babies Sifiso, left, and Rose, right, at the Cotlands home in Johannesburg, South Africa, 9 Jul 2002

Around 70,000 babies are born with HIV in South Africa every year. It is one of the main contributors to the country's high infant mortality rate.   In a hopeful sign, programs aimed at preventing the transmission of HIV from mother-to-child are meeting with success.  One such program is part of a community-based project called Total Control of the Epidemic¹ (TCE).

 Total Control of the Epidemic was started in Denmark in 1977 by the organization, Humana People to People.  TCE provides care and support to entire communities heavily affected² by HIV and AIDS.

The program has been operating in South Africa for eight years and has reached more than three million people in five of the country's nine provinces. 

PEPFAR, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis³ and Malaria⁴ are the main contributors.

Corp commander of the TCE program in Ilembe Province, Ruth Makembe, says one of the goals of the program is to make sure people know their HIV status.

"If they are positive, they should know where to go and get support-in clinics or hospitals where they can get medication," said Makembe.  "If they are negative, we encourage them to stay negative for the rest of their lives.  We are also saying that they have to change their sexual behavior." 

The program employs locals as field officers for a period of three years.  Each one works with 2,000 people.  The field officers go from house-to-house, person-to person to get each individual to become active in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

A group of women welcome visitors to Ndulinde clinic, a child and maternal⁵ health clinic in Ilembe. They are wearing red t-shirts and red berets with the TCE logo, identifying them as field officers.

Troop commander, Ntsoaki Motaung, says the song warns women not to give into the sexual demands of men.

"You want everything.  I give you my hand, I give you my breast-and then this one, you can't get it," said Motaung.

Pregnant women and mothers, holding their babies, are sitting on two long benches waiting to see a nurse.  The clinic specializes in the prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV.

At the clinic, HIV-positive pregnant women receive the necessary medication and care to give birth to a child free of HIV. 

"My name is Mbali Mhlongo, I'm 25 years old…I'm eight months pregnant," said Mhlongo. 

Mhlongo has three children and is pregnant with her fourth.  She says she got tested for HIV after she became pregnant because she saw that her boyfriend was sick and she got worried.  She says she is HIV-positive.

"I came to take my treatment for the baby and to see how the baby is feeling," she added.  "How he is kicking and all that stuff and I do everything what they say I must do.  When they are giving us a treatment, they say it is for the baby, to protect the baby." 

Mhlongo says she is feeling well except she is tired because she has to walk a long distance to get to the clinic.

Nonhlanhla Masuku, 23, welcomes visitors to her home, a one-room mud hut with a thatched roof.  She lives alone here with her three-year-old son and six-week-old baby. 

The house is situated⁶ in a poor rural area of Kwazulu Natal⁷.  There are few neighbors and the distances to the water well, to the clinic, to the school are long.

Masuku tells the visitors and the field officer accompanying them that she got herself tested and is HIV-positive.  But, she says, she does not yet know whether her baby has been infected.

"She is saying she got the medication for the baby immediately after she delivered and, I think she is talking about AZT because she said they gave her to use that medicine for seven days," explained a field officer.

Six weeks after the baby's birth, a mother, who is enrolled⁸ in the treatment program, has to bring her baby to the clinic for injections against childhood illnesses, such as measles⁹ and polio. 

Yogan Pillay is acting¹⁰ director of the National Department of Health that oversees¹¹ the HIV/AIDS and TB epidemics¹² in South Africa.  He says the baby's HIV status is checked at the same time.

"And we're finding that fewer children are being born HIV positive to HIV positive moms," he noted¹³.  "Our target for 2011 is 5 percent.  The national average at the moment is heading towards 7 percent."

Pillay says he has seen significant improvement and is sure the target of five percent transmission rate will be reached.  While this is good, he says the ultimate aim is to completely eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
 

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 situated   

adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的

参考例句：

• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
• She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。

7 natal   

adj.出生的，先天的

参考例句：

• Many music-lovers make pilgrimages to Mozart's natal place.很多爱好音乐的人去访问莫扎特的出生地。
• Since natal day,characters possess the visual elements such as dots and strokes.文字从诞生开始便具有了点画这样的视觉元素。

8 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

10 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

11 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

12 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

13 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。