2007年VOA标准英语-India Lags Behind Other Countries in Access to

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
22 April 2007

orphanage1 in Chennai, India (File)" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070601/0920570.jpg" width="177" vspace="2" border="0" />

A reportedly HIV positive baby girl Harini, 4-months-old, at an orphanage in Chennai, India (File)

India is lagging behind many countries in providing anti-retroviral drugs to people afflicted² with the AIDS virus. As Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, officials say efforts are being made to step up access to the drugs, in the country estimated to have the highest number of HIV victims in the world.

A recent report by the World Health organization, UNICEF and UNAIDS estimates that less than 15 percent of HIV-positive people in India who need anti-retroviral drugs are receiving them.

The report says 55,000 people get anti-retroviral therapy at government centers, and another 15,000 at private clinics. That is only a small proportion of those whose immune systems are so damaged that anti-retroviral drugs are prescribed.

The number of HIV-positive women receiving drugs for prevention of transmission from mother to child is even lower - a meager³ three percent.

Overall, India is estimated to have 5.7 million HIV carriers, which is thought to be the highest number of any country in the world.

But the report notes that India lags behind several other high-prevalence countries. For example, in South Africa, as many as 32 percent of HIV patients needing medication have access to the drugs. In Kenya, the figure is 44 percent, and in Nigeria, 26 percent.

The head of India's National AIDS Control Organization, Sujata Rao, says India has to identify patients who need the treatment before it can significantly expand coverage⁴.

"Our biggest challenge today is phenomenally upscaling the access to testing…. We need to test 22 million people per year," said Rao. "Unless we expand the pool of the tested number, we will not be able to get the number of people, the patients or the mothers to whom we need to reach out. This is where we are going to be focusing attention on."

Indian officials meanwhile say new concerns have emerged about the spread of HIV among injecting drug users, or IDUs.

It was believed that most such cases were concentrated in the remote northeast. But Sujata Rao says the virus has been found among IDUs in other parts of the country.

"There is now evidence to certainly show [that] Delhi, Punjab, Mumbai, that means in the mainland of the country, also we do have IDU, and HIV transmission through IDU. That makes it a larger problem," said Rao. "That is something of concern because it is mainly young people who take to drugs, and it is very difficult to put them off drugs, they are difficult to access, difficult to work with."

Indian officials say the cornerstone of the country's strategy to control the spread of AIDS remains⁵ prevention, and it is stepping up education and awareness⁶ programs as well as distribution of condoms.

1 orphanage   

n.孤儿院

参考例句：

• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage.他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。
• They gave the proceeds of the sale to the orphanage.他们把销售的收入给了这家孤儿院。

2 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

3 meager   

adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的

参考例句：

• He could not support his family on his meager salary.他靠微薄的工资无法养家。
• The two men and the woman grouped about the fire and began their meager meal.两个男人同一个女人围着火，开始吃起少得可怜的午饭。

4 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

5 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。

6 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。