VOA双语新闻 World AIDS Day（在线收听）

December 1st marks the 18th annual World AIDS Day. AIDS affects every continent, every country. More than 40 million people live with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, or with AIDS itself. There were five million new cases this year - more than half were in sub-Saharan Africa and more than half were among young people.

12月1号是世界艾滋病日18周年。艾滋病影响着每个国家。目前全世界感染艾滋病或者可能引发艾滋病的HIV病毒的人数超过4千万，今年出现了5百万起新病例，其中一半以上是在非洲撒哈拉以南，一半以上的患者是年轻人。

Eighteen years ago, world health ministers decided a global effort would be needed to stop the spread of AIDS. AIDS has claimed the lives of at least 25 million people. And it has touched the lives of many, many more.

18年前，世界卫生官员断定，要想阻止艾滋病蔓延就必须采取全球性努力。艾滋病已经夺去至少两千5百万人的生命，并且让更多的人的生活发生变化。

AIDS has orphaned 15 million children; Carol Mackay is one of them.

1千5百万儿童由于艾滋病而沦为孤儿，卡罗.麦琪就是其中之一。

"I was 9-years-old when I learned my father had HIV. That was, in effect the end of my childhood."

卡罗.麦琪说：“我听说爸爸感染艾滋病毒的时候才9岁，从那以后我就再也没有童年了。”

She told the UN General Assembly that at age 9 she began caring for her father, "He was unable to work so we often couldn't afford much medicine. I didn't have money for school supplies and often couldn't even buy food for dinner."

麦琪对联合国大会说，从9岁起她就开始照顾父亲了：“爸爸没法儿工作，所以我们经常付不起医药费，我也没钱买学习用品，甚至常常没钱买吃的。”

Knowledge of the disease, methods and medications to contain it have not come fast enough for those millions and their families, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, an AIDS expert at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, says in the past 18 years, countries have learned how the virus is transmitted, how to diagnose the disease, how to protect blood supplies, and countless lives have been saved with anti-viral drugs.

对于数百万患者以及他们的家庭而言，艾滋病知识、控制方法和药品的获得都不够及时。不过，美国国家卫生研究院的艾滋病专家安东尼.法奥西认为，过去18年来，一些国家开始获悉病毒如何传播以及怎样诊断这种疾病、如何保护血液制品。另外，抗病毒药物的使用拯救了许许多多的生命。

"Still, the major issue that has not been resolved is the issue of a vaccine and that is a major problem."

法奥西说：“目前还没有得到解决的仍然是疫苗问题，这是个大问题。”

Dr. Fauci says more anti-viral drugs are now available to the poor, especially to those in developing nations.

他说，穷人、特别是发展中国家的穷人，现在可以获得更多的抗病毒药物。

"We went from virtually nothing to now a considerable number of people, still, not nearly the proportion we would like it to be, but nonetheless, it's going in the right direction."

法奥西说：“以前几乎什么也没有，现在却有相当多的人获得了药品。当然，和我们所希望的比例还相距甚远，但的确是朝着正确方向迈进。”

The epicenter of the disease continues to be sub-Saharan Africa. That's where two-thirds of all people infected with HIV and AIDS live. But the epidemic continues to grow and is spreading at alarming rates in other areas, according to Peter Piot who heads UNAIDS. "The fastest growth is in Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the countries of the former Soviet Union, where the number of people living with HIV has increased 20-fold in less than 10 years."

目前，艾滋病患者仍然主要分布在非洲撒哈拉以南地区，那里感染艾滋病或者艾滋病毒的人数占世界患者总数的三分之二。联合国艾滋病规化署负责人彼得.皮奥特说，其它地区的艾滋病疫情也在持续增加，并且在以惊人的速度蔓延。他说：“增加速度最快的是位于东欧和中亚的前苏联国家，在不到10年的时间这些国家感染艾滋病毒的人数增加了20倍。”

In countries where condom use and safe sex have been encouraged, new infections have declined.

在一些鼓励使用安全套和安全性行为的国家，新感染病例有所下降。

Where treatment and AIDS education programs are available, the disease is less stigmatized.

在提供艾滋病治疗和有关教育项目的地方，艾滋病受歧视现像有所减少。

HIV and AIDS is still an extraordinary public health challenge according to Dr. Fauci.

法奥西说，HIV病毒以及艾滋病仍然是公共卫生所遇到的不寻常挑战。

"And it's not going in the right direction as a whole. There are some regions and some countries that are doing better this past year, but for the most part, we're still in a very dire situation."

他说：“总体而言并不是都朝着正确方向迈进，有些地区、有些国家过去一年来做得比较好，但就大多数地区而言，情况仍然很严重。”

The inescapable fact is as more people are infected with HIV, more people will die of AIDS.

一个无法回避的事实是，随着越来越多的人感染HIV病毒，越来越多的人将死于艾滋病。