VOA标准英语2010年-Healthcare Workers Call For More Money

"The AIDS epidemic¹ is still an emergency. It hasn't gone away and it will not go away"
International organizations that work with HIV/AIDS issues say unless more money is provided for programs in developing countries, the campaign to eradicate² the disease will suffer a 20-year set back. 

AIDS activists³, some with the HIV virus, protested outside the U.S. Embassy in Johannesburg last month.  They say they are afraid that American funding for international AIDS programs might be scaled back.

Activists like Sharon Ekambaram, a spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders, say if the U.S. cuts funding, other countries will do the same.  "The AIDS epidemic is still an emergency. It hasn't gone away and it will not go away," she said.

Ekambaram says in countries like Mozambique, 90 percent of AIDS funding comes from international donors⁴. 

In Ukraine, HIV/AIDS patients and their supporters protested earlier this month against the possible closure of an HIV ward⁵ at a hospital in Kiev. The hospital reportedly has that country's best treatment program for HIV/AIDS.

Doctors and AIDS activists are concerned that people who need treatment will not get it, and the picture of AIDS will once again be that of the dead and dying.

In recent months, in different parts of the world including the United States, there have been reports of doctors turning away AIDS patients from treatment centers because of funding problems. In some African countries, health officials say they can't afford to meet international standards for AIDS treatment.

AIDS expert Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institutes of Health addressed the issue at a recent conference. "A very sobering statistic⁶ is that for every one person that we put on therapy, two to three people get newly infected," he said.

Dr. Fauci says the number of new infections has stayed relatively⁷ the same, under three million a year. But more people are now living with the virus, so treatment needs have multiplied.

Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr from Columbia University in New York says doctors want to reach people with HIV before they become visibly ill, especially pregnant women. They also want to treat babies with HIV.  "Obviously, if you need more treatment, you need more money to be able to give people access to the treatment," he said.

U.S. funding for AIDS programs has stayed the same, with only a slight increase of two percent. But Dr. Fauci says he would like to see a greater increase in the budget for these programs. "I think the realistic aspect is that particularly for people who are HIV infected, you cannot right now, with resources that are available, get everyone who needs to be on therapy in the developing world, on therapy. So what we hope for is that there will be other donors," he said.

The AIDS experts say many wealthy countries have not kept their commitment to provide AIDS funding.

And without a vaccine⁸, Dr. Fauci says the best methods of prevention are these:

encourage people to limit the numbers of sexual partners
encourage men to use condoms
train more doctors to perform adult male circumcision
empower women to choose their sex partners and protect themselves from getting the virus that causes AIDS

All of these goals still remain major challenges.

 

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 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

3 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》

4 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

6 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

7 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

8 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。