VOA常速英语2007-UNICEF: Stigma Hampers HIV/AIDS Prevention, Trea

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
17 October 2007

The U.N. Children's Fund says the stigmatization² of HIV/AIDS in South Africa hampers³ prevention and treatment of the disease. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva that UNICEF says more aggressive leadership is needed to end the stigma¹.

The U.N. Children's Fund says South Africa has made amazing strides since the end of apartheid in boosting the economy, in moving toward universal education and in expanding its social welfare network to millions of destitute⁴ people.

But UNICEF says the country has fallen down in the fight against HIV and AIDS. It says HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death among young children in South Africa.

UNICEF says more than 400,000 people die of HIV-related causes each year in South Africa. It says this disease is largely to blame for the drop in life expectancy⁵ from 69 years in 1990 to less than 47 years today.

UNICEF representative in South Africa, Macharia Kamau, says death and infection continue to outpace prevention and treatment.

"The reason why prevention is falling way behind treatment is because HIV is still very much a stigmatized⁶ disease in South Africa," said Kamau. "The South African society, government, communities across the board have yet to break the back of the stigma related to the disease."

Kamau says there has to be an aggressive effort by the government and political leadership to send out a consistent message that HIV is a preventable disease.

He says people in power have to end the ignorance and stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS.

"If you look at the experience of other countries - in Botswana, in Zambia, in Kenya, in Uganda, in Rwanda - consistently where the political leadership from the very top through to the ministerial leadership has taken ownership of this issue and has become the champion of this issue in communities, families have begun to recognize that this is something that can be treated like any other disease. It is as sure a killer⁷ as malaria⁸, as diarrhea, as pneumonia⁹. It is just a disease that needs to be prevented and when somebody has the disease, that needs to be treated," said Kamau.

South Africa has ratified¹⁰ the Millennium¹¹ Development Goals aimed at reducing poverty, disease and suffering by 2015. The UNICEF official says the country is making progress in fighting poverty, enhancing education and creating gender¹² equity¹³. But he says South Africa is far behind in bringing down the rates of infant and maternal¹⁴ mortality.

1 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。

2 stigmatization   

n.描绘，陈述

参考例句：

3 hampers   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Prejudice sometimes hampers a person from doing the right thing. 有时候，偏见会妨碍人正确行事。
• This behavior is the opposite of modeless feedback, and it hampers flow. 这个行为有悖于非模态的反馈，它阻碍了流。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 destitute   

adj.缺乏的；穷困的

参考例句：

• They were destitute of necessaries of life.他们缺少生活必需品。
• They are destitute of common sense.他们缺乏常识。

5 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

6 stigmatized   

v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was stigmatized as an ex-convict. 他遭人污辱，说他给判过刑。 来自辞典例句
• Such a view has been stigmatized as mechanical jurisprudence. 蔑称这种观点为机械法学。 来自辞典例句

7 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

8 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。

9 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

10 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

11 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

12 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

13 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

14 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。