VOA标准英语2011--AIDS Drugs Offer Hope of Normal Lifespan

AIDS Drugs Offer Hope of Normal Lifespan in Africa

Over the last 30 years life expectancy¹ rates in Africa plummeted², as HIV/AIDS claimed millions of lives. But a new study says antiretroviral drug treatment can dramatically reverse that trend.
Professor Jean Nachega co-authored the study of some 20,000 patients in Uganda. He said, "The overall key finding of our study is that the patient in Africa receiving antiretroviral therapy for HIV can expect to live a near normal lifespan."
The findings were released at the International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Rome – and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Lost years
Before the HIV/AIDS epidemic³, expected lifespans in many African countries had risen sharply. Nachega, who is a professor of medicine at South Africa's Stellenbosch University and a scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, witnessed the change caused by the disease, cutting 15, 20 or more years from life expectancy.
"All what we've been able to gain in the past with the access to clean water, expanded immunization programs were totally reversed with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. So now we are seeing some good news that investing in antiretroviral programs, those investments are now paying off," he said.
He credits PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis⁴ and Malaria⁵.
Gender⁶ differences
However, while the overall findings are positive, they do show a difference between men and women. Women are living longer. One reason is that men wait longer before receiving treatment.
"Men just in general have a less health-seeking behavior as compared to females. Men spend more time looking for a job and spending more time away from their family to try to find a way to survive, I think may be one of the reasons. The second reason is obviously the issue about stigma⁷, which is still quite affecting the majority of the people in the community," he said.
Women may have a greater opportunity to learn their HIV status and receive treatment through pre-natal care programs. He says health officials need to "think hard" about how to overcome the "gender imbalance" in treatment.
Nachega supports the strategy of using treatment as prevention.
"We should no longer see treatment and prevention totally separately. Treatment, by itself, is also part of prevention. Because by treating people, and hopefully treating people earlier, they are less likely to transmit the virus to their sexual partner," he said.
Studies also show that giving uninfected people antiretrovirals can help protect them from HIV during sex with their infected partners. It's called preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Nachega says with the prevention tools now available, great progress can be made against the epidemic. But he says the magic bullet of an effective AIDS vaccine⁸ remains⁹ elusive¹⁰.

 

1 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。

2 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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。

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。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。