VOA标准英语2015--肯尼亚加入艾滋病梦想项目

Kenya Joins HIV DREAMS Project 肯尼亚加入艾滋病梦想项目

Kenya will be getting new support to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS among adolescent girls. President Obama announced Sunday that Kenya would be included in the DREAMS project. It’s funded by the U.S., the Nike Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Adolescent girls are hard hit by HIV AIDS. It’s estimated seven thousand die every year from the disease.They also account for about 74 percent of new infections among adolescents.

The $210 million DREAMS project falls under PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Dr. Deborah Birx is the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator¹ and in charge of PEPFAR.

She said, “DREAMS is a very exciting new program for us where the D stands for determine, the R for resilient, the E for empowered, the A for AIDS-free and the M for mentored² and the S for safe. And that acronym³ – that combination of items – we think is really going to be key to keep young women HIV-free.

Ambassador Birx said the overall rate of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa has fallen over the last 10 years. She credited efforts by individual countries, PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria⁴. But she said changing demographics on the continent are having an effect on the epidemic⁵.

“Africa also has this exciting, expanding young adult [population]. So, there are 30 percent more young adults now than at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. So, you can see just by the sheer numbers even if you hold the rates of HIV new infections at the same (level), because there’s so many more young adults at risk your actually number of HIV infected goes significantly up,” she said.

And adolescent girls and young women are bearing the brunt of that.

“We know young women in general are two to three to four and some cases 10 times more likely to become HIV infected than young men of the exact same age group. So, this is very much focused on meeting the needs of young women where they are in the communities to address their specific issues that lead to higher HIV risk – and to ensure that they grow up as part of this commitment to an AIDS-free generation,” said Birx.

Kenya will receive $30 million extra in HIV funding from the DREAMS project. Programs are already in place, so they can begin right away.

Dr. Birx attended the recent International AIDS Society Conference on Pathogenesis, Prevention and Treatment in Vancouver, Canada. She said among the scientific studies presented was further proof that the sooner HIV infected people receive antiretrovirals the better.

“If patients start on treatment early, they can have this almost identical lifespan to someone who is HIV negative. So this is extraordinarily⁶ exciting, and that’s what happened over the last decade in sub-Saharan Africa. So, we’ve reversed the dying. Now we have to even do a better job on decreasing the number of new infections.”

The PEPFAR chief said preventing new infections among adolescents is cheaper than treating them once they are infected. That, she says, could strain financial resources.

Two of the biggest obstacles to helping⁷ girls and young women living with HIV are stigma⁸ and discrimination.

“We feel like, overall, across the world we’ve made the least progress in stigma and discrimination. And this has really undermined the abilities of individuals and communities to protect themselves from HIV because people are hiding their sero status. There’s still unrelenting stigma at the community level. So, people living with HIV/AIDS around the world are still forced into the shadows of their community,” said Birx.

She said as a result, fewer people are coming forward to be tested. People are hiding their antiretroviral pills so friends and family won’t learn their HIV status. Birx said it’s critical women are empowered and have the means to protect themselves.

“We know from our gender-based violence studies -- we’ve been supporting, what we call, violence against children surveys in 10 African countries over the last five years – and it’s clear that young women are specifically susceptible⁹ to gender-based violence and have a much higher risk of either acquiring HIV through gender-based violence or through other behaviors that occurred due to the gender-based violence that had occurred earlier.”

Ambassador Birx said young women must stand up for themselves. But she also says communities have to “wrap their arms around young women and value them and protect them from the perpetrators of gender-based violence.”

1 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

2 mentored   

v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They had a fantastic dean who really mentored a lot of people. 那儿的教务长非常出色，的确为许多人提供了指导。 来自互联网
• The famous professor mentored him during his years in graduate school. 那位著名的教授在他读研究生期间指导他。 来自互联网

3 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

4 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。

5 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。

6 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 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。

9 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。