VOA标准英语--World Bank Urges Greater HIV Prevention Efforts

 World Bank Urges Greater HIV Prevention Efforts

 

The World Bank says significantly better HIV prevention efforts are needed in Africa. It says a slow global economy and uncertain donor¹ aid make preventing new infections a necessity.

A new World Bank report says the world’s economic woes² are causing “anxiety about maintaining and expanding AIDS treatment programs in low income countries.”

Co-author Elizabeth Lule said concerns about tight budgets coincide with much progress being made against the disease.

“HIV prevalence, especially among young people, is going down in southern Africa. In countries where there’s highest burden, young people have better knowledge. They’re using condoms consistently. They’re reducing partners. So there is a lot of progress,” she said.

Also in recent years, studies have shown that giving antiretroviral drugs to HIV negative people can protect them from becoming infected. And there’s been progress in vaccine³ research, although an effective vaccine is still considered years away.

Fiscal⁴ dimension

“We shouldn’t just be looking at HIV/AIDS as a health problem, but also as an economic problem because of the huge costs that are incurred⁶ in treating people as well as prevention. And we highlight the importance of continuing to use effective prevention in order to contain future costs,” she said.

The report is called The Fiscal Dimension of HIV/AIDS in Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda.

“There’s been very limited analysis on the fiscal dimension of HIV/AIDS for countries to understand the future liability that they take on, especially if they do not reduce new infections. They would only be adding to the burden,” she said.

Lule, the World Bank’s acting⁷ director for regional integration⁸ in Africa, said treating HIV/AIDS can only be done on a long term basis.

“When a person gets HIV/AIDS it usually takes a number of years before they develop full-blown AIDS. But then once you put them on treatment you cannot stop. And they may survive, of course, for a long time and the countries have to incur⁵ those costs. And then the more new infections you have the more people you have to treat in the future. And therefore the higher costs that countries would have to incur,” she said.

But while the World Bank calls for significantly better HIV prevention efforts, it does not propose specific ways to do that.

Lule said, “There isn’t any HIV strategy that works effectively everywhere. Countries have to understand and know their epidemic⁹. In countries like Uganda, Brazil and Thailand, where they had a lot of success in reducing HIV infections, it was mainly using a combination of behavior interventions¹⁰, biomedical interventions, as well as structural¹¹ interventions that look at the underlying¹² causes.”

Cost per infection

The study tries to calculate how much money a country would save if it prevented one HIV infection. For example, it says Uganda would save nearly $6,000 for each new infection that was prevented. South Africa could save $2,500 per infection.

“So it’s a huge saving if they really did prevention more effectively. And then they would be able to afford maintaining the treatment as well as investing in prevention,” she said.

Lule said countries with poor health systems or a shortage of health workers may face challenges strengthening their prevention efforts. She added effective programs will require partnerships¹³ involving governments, donors¹⁴ and people living with HIV.

What’s more, the World Bank official says even without a global recession, available resources must be used effectively and efficiently¹⁵ in the future. Currently, more than 6 and a half million people are receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS, but about 30 million are currently living with the disease.

1 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

2 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

3 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。

4 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

5 incur   

vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇

参考例句：

• Any costs that you incur will be reimbursed in full.你的所有花费都将全额付还。
• An enterprise has to incur certain costs and expenses in order to stay in business.一个企业为了维持营业,就不得不承担一定的费用和开支。

6 incurred   

[医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式

参考例句：

• She had incurred the wrath of her father by marrying without his consent 她未经父亲同意就结婚，使父亲震怒。
• We will reimburse any expenses incurred. 我们将付还所有相关费用。

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

9 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。

10 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

11 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

12 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

13 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

14 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。