2006年VOA标准英语-South Africa Revamping AIDS Strategies

By Delia Robertson
Johannesburg
31 October 2006

South Africa's National AIDS Council is to be restructured as part of a new plan to strengthen the country's response to HIV/AIDS and will now include a deputy chairperson drawn¹ from civil society.  The panel is expected to finalize² and announce an HIV/AIDS strategy for the next five years sometime next month.

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		Antiretroviral AIDS medications

The new plan will likely include targets to treat up to one million people with AIDS drugs in a much shorter period than is currently planned. 

Mark Heywood, of the AIDS Law Project, says if the government accepts recommendations from AIDS organizations, the new plan will also scale up current prevention campaigns in an attempt to reduce the 400,000 new HIV infections in South Africa each year.

Few experts and activists³ are critical of the current strategy, known as the Comprehensive Plan, put in place three years ago.  But they are generally scathing⁴ about how it has been implemented⁵ and particularly charge that actual policy has been obstructed⁶ and obscured by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. 

"South Africa has gone through at least six years where there has been a politically driven confusion about HIV and it [has] gone through various stages, such as suggestions that HIV may not cause AIDS, questioning of the scale of the epidemic⁷; and questioning, public questioning of the safety of anti-retroviral medicines; the promotion⁸ of medicines other than anti-retrovirals as cures for HIV; a failure to make sure that charlatans⁹ and people who claim that they have cures for HIV are clamped down; and that the public understands what is most important about medicine and HIV," said Mr. Heywood.

The health minister has been dubbed¹⁰ Dr. Beetroot, because rather than clearly articulating policy, she has devoted¹¹ public appearances to advocating a diet rich in beetroot, garlic, lemon, and olive oil.

The crises of confidence came to a head last August at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto, when the U.N. special envoy¹² for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis said South African policy was immoral¹³ and indefensible.  Soon thereafter, President Thabo Mbeki ordered an urgent review of the policy by the new inter-ministerial council headed by the Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Since then, the deputy president, who is South Africa's National AIDS Council chairperson, has held a series of meetings with a wide range of groups and individuals, from officials to activists, seeking their views on policy, and plans for treatment and prevention.

Heywood says that for the first time in years, AIDS activists are feeling much more confident about South Africa's ability to treat people living with AIDS, and combat HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.  He says that in just six weeks, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka has taken South Africa quite a distance.

"So my reading of it is that at a very high level of government and most noticeably from the deputy president of South Africa there is now a determination to try to unite the country around the HIV epidemic, but also to try to make sure that policies and programs are put into place that have a real impact," he added.

Heywood says that the test of the government's new approach to the AIDS pandemic will come in the implementation¹⁴ of new plans. 

"I think if we do get to the end of this period successfully, that is to the end of this year successfully, then South Africa faces the real challenge around HIV, which is going to be the implementation of big scale programs and the need to measure those programs against lives saved," he explained.

This view was echoed by Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka who told the SANAC meeting that success will come when South Africans unite to combat HIV and assist those who are already ill.

1 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

2 finalize   

v.落实，定下来

参考例句：

• Let us finalize tonight.让我们今天晚上干完
• 。At the same time,industrial designers work with engineers to finalize components and assembly.同时，工业设计师和工程师一道来完成部件和组装部分的工作。

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 scathing   

adj.（言词、文章）严厉的，尖刻的；不留情的adv.严厉地，尖刻地v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的现在分词)

参考例句：

• a scathing attack on the new management 针对新的管理层的猛烈抨击
• Her speech was a scathing indictment of the government's record on crime. 她的演讲强烈指责了政府在犯罪问题上的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

6 obstructed   

阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止

参考例句：

• Tall trees obstructed his view of the road. 有大树挡着，他看不到道路。
• The Irish and Bristol Channels were closed or grievously obstructed. 爱尔兰海峡和布里斯托尔海峡或遭受封锁，或受到了严重阻碍。

7 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。

8 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

9 charlatans   

n.冒充内行者，骗子( charlatan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are lots of phonies and charlatans in the financial newsletter business. 干金融通讯这一行的人中间不乏骗子和吹牛大王。 来自辞典例句
• But wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. 但是恶人和行诈术的人却越来越坏，他们迷惑人，也必受人迷惑。 来自互联网

10 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

12 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

13 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。

14 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。