VOA标准英语2012--Much Progress, Much to Do on HIV

Much Progress, Much to Do on HIV

 

In July, the world’s largest AIDS conference will be held in Washington, D.C. About 20 thousand delegates from 200 countries and more than two thousand journalists are expected to attend AIDS 2012. This will be the first time the event has been held in the United States since 1990. In the lead-up to the conference, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has given an update on the epidemic¹ at home and abroad.

Many losses along the way

Dr. Thomas Frieden spoke² at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“It’s possible, I think, to forget just how bad the HIV epidemic has been. HIV has already killed in this country as many people as died in all wars since the civil war,” he said.

And around the world, he said HIV/AIDS remains³ the biggest infectious disease challenge more than 30 years into the epidemic.

“There have been 65 million HIV infections and 30 million deaths since this epidemic started. In 2010 alone there were 2.7 million new infections and 1.8 million deaths. So the number of people infected continues to grow from 34 million and up,” he said.

Most of the infections and deaths have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. In the early days, before the illness had a name, it was called slim disease, because people were wasting away.

“At the peak of the AIDS epidemic in Africa, HIV accounted for two-thirds of all adult deaths. Can you imagine what that would be like in our own village, our own community? There were communities in which the only business that was increasing was the funeral business,” he said.

Frieden said he remembers trying to treat hundreds of patients in the early days of the epidemic. But there was no treatment. Things began to change around 1996 when the first antiretroviral drugs came on the scene. There was initial hope that these were a cure. But it was then realized the drugs could suppress the virus, but not kill it. However, at least in developed countries, the drugs, despite many side effects, could extend lives.

Much has changed since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The 2011 global AIDS progress report says annual incidence of HIV has fallen since 2001 in 33 countries, 22 of them in sub-Saharan Africa. And the overall number of deaths has declined since peaking at 2.2 million in 2005. However, infections and deaths are rising in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Tipping point

Nevertheless, Frieden described 2012 at a tipping point. There have been advances in vaccine⁴ research, microbicides and especially in the use of antiretroviral drugs.

He said, “We know that treatment as prevention has been documented to reduce transmission by 96 percent. This is remarkable⁵ evidence of progress. We now know that if you’re on treatment not only will you live longer and healthier, but you’ll be 96 percent less likely to spread HIV to others. That’s a game changer.”

The U.S. government has said the goal of an AIDS-free generation is within reach.

“Meaning that virtually no child will be born with HIV infection; that adults living with HIV don’t progress to AIDS; that there is a rapid decline in HIV incidence; that combination prevention can turn the tide on the HIV epidemic just as combination antiretroviral treatment can turn the tide on infection in an individual,” he said.

Frieden said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has played a major role in fighting HIV/AIDS and other diseases. The CDC has worked closely with PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. He praises PEPFAR for getting more people on treatment at lower costs and helping⁶ strengthen healthcare systems. The goal is to get many more on antiretroviral treatment, eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, also known as vertical⁷ transmission, and get many more men circumcised to prevent HIV infection.

AIDS 2012

The 19th International AIDS Conference will be held in Washington, D.C., from July 22nd to the 27th. The conference hasn’t been held in the U.S. since 1990 because a travel ban had been in effect for those who were HIV positive. The Bush and Obama administrations worked to eventually lift that ban.

Frieden does expect some protests at AIDS 2012, possibly over budget cuts as nations struggle to recover from the global recession. But he said activists⁸ have played a major role over three decades.

“If it weren’t for the advocacy in HIV we would not be where we are today. Not just in HIV, but in many other diseases. The HIV advocacy community, I think, showed the way for people suffering from a wide variety of health conditions to demand better treatment, to demand faster results, to demand access to the latest information,” he said.

Frieden says security in health means everyone is connected by “the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.” He adds, “A risk anywhere is really potentially a risk everywhere.”

1 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。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 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。

4 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。

5 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

6 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。

7 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

8 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》