VOA标准英语2011--As Global Deaths Decline, AIDS Research Funding Slips

As Global Deaths Decline, AIDS Research Funding Slips

 

As the United Nations marks World AIDS Day this year (Dec. 1) it is celebrating a major milestone¹: a drop in the number of AIDS-related deaths around the world. But funding for continued AIDS research and treatment is also dropping for the first time in the 30-year old epidemic², and health experts warn that this trend must be reversed if the spread of the disease is to be halted.

A new United Nations report says the number of people worldwide becoming infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has dropped by 21 percent since the global epidemic peaked in 1997. Those new infections have plateaued at about 2.7 million cases per year.

The report says 34 million people worldwide are living with HIV due to improved access to drug treatments.

Michel Sidibe, executive director of the joint³ United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, says 2011 has been a milestone year in the global fight against AIDS.

"You know, for us this year is a game-changing year. It is the first time that the science was telling us, if we put people on treatment early, we can reduce the new infection rate by ninety-six percent. So, we are dropping this false dichotomy between prevention and treatment," Sidibe said.

Timely drug therapies have slowed the pace of HIV deaths and new infections, and helped avert⁴ an estimated 700,000 AIDS-related deaths.

But there are still major challenges ahead, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy⁵ and Infectious Diseases and one of the pioneers in the fight to stop the AIDS epidemic.

“The more people you get on therapy, the earlier you diagnose it, the less deaths you will see, that’s good news. The sobering news is we still have a long way to go. We still don’t have the epidemic under control,” Fauci said.

The U.N. data show that in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, more than a million people are still dying of the disease every year.

In these HIV hot zones, experts agree that early intervention⁶ with antiretroviral drugs can save lives and slow transmission rates. But Dr. Fauci says pairing this treatment with proven prevention strategies is key to getting the epidemic under control.

"The fact that you put people on treatment, get their viral load to a level that’s low enough, then it is extremely unlikely that those people will transmit the infection to their uninfected sexual partner. So, if you combine all of the prevention modalities and superimpose upon that treatment of more and more people, then you could start to see some significant downturn in the pandemic,” Fauci said.

Funding is also essential to continued research on an HIV vaccine⁷ and other prevention and treatment efforts. But humanitarian⁸ organizations report that donor⁹ support has dropped for the first time, from 7.6 billion dollars in 2009 to 6.9 billion dollars in 2010. Sidibe says U.N. member countries have promised to fill the gap, and he's hopeful they will:

“I think this report is telling us that it's just not time to pull out. It is time to invest in AIDS because the results are there," Sidibe said.

The UNAIDS director says those investments can turn the tide, and mark the beginning of the end of the AIDS pandemic.

1 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

2 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。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

5 allergy   

n.(因食物、药物等而引起的)过敏症

参考例句：

• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。
• The patient had an allergy to penicillin.该患者对青霉素过敏。

6 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

7 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。

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

9 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。