Papua New Guinea Makes Gains in AIDS Battle but Faces Challe

Papua New Guinea, with one of the world's highest rates of new HIV infections, has made gains in reducing the spread of AIDS. However, AIDS advocates and counselors², meeting at a UNAIDS conference in Bangkok, say changing male behaviors and ensuring more HIV positive pregnant women have access to antiretroviral drugs remain challenges.
Papua New Guinea, facing a general AIDS epidemic³, has slowed the virus' spread as education programs and a marked increase in health facilities conducting HIV tests among pregnant women have had an impact.
The stepped up surveillance has allowed for a downward revision in new AIDS cases to around one per cent of the population, or about 35,000, with most cases in urban areas of this country which occupies the eastern half of the Pacific island of New Guinea.
In 2009 the AIDS death toll⁴ stood at 1,300. A combination of drug and alcohol abuse as well as multiple sex partners and gender-based violence has contributed to the diseases' spread.
UNAIDS, a joint⁵ United Nations program on HIV/AIDS, says the evidence points to a leveling off in new cases in Papua New Guinea, marking substantial progress over recent years.
But Murray Proctor, HIV/AIDS ambassador from the Australian Agency for International Development, says the challenge for Papua New Guinea is ensuring prevention programs are sustained.
"The challenge is still though to get the prevention message across to high risk groups and differently in different places. In Papua New Guinea you have 1.0 per cent prevalence and it's mainly heterosexual," said Proctor. "In other parts of East Asia it's injecting drug users and increasingly men who have sex with men."
But concerns remain. Rising numbers of babies are being born HIV positive. Linda John, an AIDS advocate diagnosed with HIV in 2004, says too many pregnant women refuse to take prenatal HIV tests. A woman found to be HIV positive can access antiretroviral medications and prevent mother to child transmission.
"Mothers are given choices to do the HIV test or not,' she said. "Some mothers refuse to do the test. But it's important to consider the child that is in the mother's womb because the child also has the right. What if the mother is infected and if she doesn't want to hear her status? This is a high risk in transmitting the virus to the child and that's one of the challenges seen in Papua New Guinea. After the delivery mothers are rushing the baby to the clinic and they are diagnosed as HIV positive, and it's too late."
But fewer than three per cent of HIV-positive pregnant women in Papua New Guinea receive anti-retroviral medications.
John says more women need to have greater access to legal rights and there have to be steps to end domestic violence.
Papua New Guinea's churches and faith-based organizations are also involved in HIV/AIDS programs aimed at reducing stigmatization⁷ and discrimination.
Eddie Kekea, an AIDS counselor¹ at the Anglican Church division of Education, based in the Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby, says a challenge is changing male behavior to curb⁸ domestic violence and promote safe sex.
"We have one strategic plan through a framework by UNAIDS. But as far as I am concerned the behavior change in men is progressing at a slower rate; and it's a challenge not only to the churches but to other civil societies as well," said Kekea.
Kekea says the churches themselves have succeeded in dealing⁹ with stigma⁶ and discrimination within their own organizations and have integrated HIV programs that have led to a better understanding of the impact of AIDS on both individuals and communities.

1 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

2 counselors   

n.顾问( counselor的名词复数 )；律师；（使馆等的）参赞；（协助学生解决问题的）指导老师

参考例句：

• Counselors began an inquiry into industrial needs. 顾问们开始调查工业方面的需要。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We have experienced counselors available day and night. ) 这里有经验的法律顾问全天候值班。） 来自超越目标英语 第4册

3 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。

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 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。

6 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

7 stigmatization   

n.描绘，陈述

参考例句：

8 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

9 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。