World AIDS Day Finds Russia, Former Soviet Union in Grips of

 

By Bill Gasperini
United Nations health officials say Russia and other nations of the former Soviet¹ bloc² are confronting the world's fastest-growing epidemic³ of HIV/AIDS. One decade ago, the countries of the former Soviet bloc had some of the lowest infection rates of HIV, the virus that causes the deadly AIDS disease.
Now, health officials say rates have skyrocketed to such an extent that the region leads the world in what has become an AIDS epidemic.
The organization that monitors the situation, UN/AIDS, estimates up to 1.8 million people in the region have the virus - approximately one percent of the population.
And, the rate of increase is enormous, with hundreds of thousands of people infected each year.
Most infections come from spiraling intravenous drug use by male addicts⁴ using contaminated needles.
But that is changing. Officials say women now account for about one-third of Russian HIV infections, which means a sharp rise in the number of mothers who pass the virus on to their newborn babies.
Officials say that governments still do not understand the true scope of the problem or its long-term impact on social and economic development.
Dr. Akram Eltom is the Russia program coordinator⁵ for the World Health Organization's HIV/AIDS program.
He says the aim is to work with the government to overcome misunderstandings about the problem and improve prevention.
"We believe advocacy is a gradual effort. We are here to support the government," he said. "To overcome, whether it is political convictions, social considerations, or economic ones, it will be a gradual effort."
Although there are some dire⁶ predictions of greatly-increasing numbers of AIDS deaths in Russia within just a few years, the federal allocation to fight the disease is only $4.5 million a year.
Despite low funding, many prevention programs are in place. These include "harm reduction" measures such as needle exchange programs to keep drug addicts from sharing or using infected needles.
注释：
skyrocket 暴涨，猛涨
epidemic 流行病
approximately 大约
intravenous 静脉内的
contaminated 被污染（沾污）的
prevention 预防
gradual 逐步的
allocation 分配，配给

 

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

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 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

5 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？

6 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。