VOA标准英语2015--Young Women Bear HIV Burden

Young Women Bear HIV Burden

The head of PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, says young women and girls are disproportionally affected¹ by HIV. Dr. Deborah Birx said seven thousand young women are infected each week with the AIDS virus – mostly in Africa.

It’s been 34 years since HIV/AIDS was officially declared an epidemic². While much progress has been made in recent years through treatment and prevention, younger generations remain vulnerable to the virus. And there are a lot more young people today than when the epidemic began as the global population rises. Nowhere can that be seen more clearly than in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ambassador Birx is helping³ to lead an effort protect women and girls and change the course of the epidemic.

She said, “People have known for a while that women and girls, particularly young women’s incidence of disease and prevalence of disease is much higher than their age-matched boy counterpart. And it starts really very early, probably at about 14 to 15, and then continues to escalate⁴ all through the early 20s with a rate that’s about twice what it is in young men.”

Dr. Birx said a lot of the infections among young women and girls can be traced to who they date.

“The young girls and young women are not being infected from their age-matched cohort when you see that kind of disparity. So, you know that they must be getting infected or exposed to the HIV virus probably from a different age cohort of men. And that’s been all of the discussion over the years about cross-generational sex and young women engaging with sex with older men. When we say older men it could be simply five or 10 years older.”

She said that health officials have a lot to learn about why adolescent girls and young women make such dating decisions. Earlier in the epidemic, much of the problem was blamed on the so-called “sugar daddy” syndrome⁵, where young women would date rich older men. But Dr. Birx said it’s really more complicated than that.

“You know, we haven’t sat down with young women at 10 and 14 and then again at 15, 16 and 17 and really dissected⁶ each of those decisions in different communities. I do believe it’s probably different and it’s a different pattern in communities that could be right next to each other.”

The PEPFAR head said the information being gathered will be used to tailor programs toward young women and adolescent girls.

The DREAMS program announced last December is still in its early stages. DREAMS stands for determined⁷, resilient, empowered, AIDS-free, mentored⁸ and safe. It’s a public-private partnership⁹ PEPFAR has with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Nike Foundation. It’ll begin in 10 sub-Saharan African countries.

“Now there’s a difference between defining that they’re at a unique risk – figuring out what that risk is – and then implementing¹⁰ programs that address that risk. And I think we’ve defined that they’re at a unique risk, but we haven’t really defined the type of programming that will affect that risk.”

Ambassador Birx said such programs are vital considering population growth.

“If you look at South Africa, itself, about the demographics of the young women in the age category of 15 to 30 at the beginning of the epidemic in 1985 and you look again now of how many young women, there’s about 25 to 30 percent additional young women in that age group. So this youth bulge¹¹ – this youth dividend¹² – this fabulous¹³ piece of Africa rising – is also the piece that really puts Africa at risk,” she said.

In the early years of the epidemic, Birx treated patients in the U.S. and Africa before the disease was called AIDS. There were a lot of funerals. So, the disease was forefront in many people’s minds. Now, she fears complacency is taking hold.

“The reality of weekly funerals – the reality that HIV/AIDS is death – was so pervasive¹⁴. So when Global Fund and PEPFAR and host country investments allowed this amazing saving of lives [and]there was no longer this constant parade of funerals every weekend, it has resulted in a level of complacency that I don’t think any of us expected,” Birx said.

At the recent World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, Dr. Birx spoke¹⁵ with a number of African finance ministers. She said they told her they thought the HIV/AIDS problem had ended because the number of deaths had dramatically declined.

She said PEPFAR and others are shining a light on the disease so people understand it is still a significant problem that needs to be solved.

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 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。

3 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。

4 escalate   

v.(使)逐步增长(或发展)，(使)逐步升级

参考例句：

• It would tempt Israel's neighbors to escalate their demands.它将诱使以色列的邻国不断把他们的要求升级。
• Defeat could cause one side or other to escalate the conflict.失败可能会导致其中一方将冲突升级。

5 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

6 dissected   

adj.切开的，分割的，（叶子）多裂的v.解剖（动物等）( dissect的过去式和过去分词 )；仔细分析或研究

参考例句：

• Her latest novel was dissected by the critics. 评论家对她最近出版的一部小说作了详细剖析。
• He dissected the plan afterward to learn why it had failed. 他事后仔细剖析那项计划以便搞清它失败的原因。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

8 mentored   

v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They had a fantastic dean who really mentored a lot of people. 那儿的教务长非常出色，的确为许多人提供了指导。 来自互联网
• The famous professor mentored him during his years in graduate school. 那位著名的教授在他读研究生期间指导他。 来自互联网

9 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

10 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

11 bulge   

n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀

参考例句：

• The apple made a bulge in his pocket.苹果把他口袋塞得鼓了起来。
• What's that awkward bulge in your pocket?你口袋里那块鼓鼓囊囊的东西是什么？

12 dividend   

n.红利，股息；回报，效益

参考例句：

• The company was forced to pass its dividend.该公司被迫到期不分红。
• The first quarter dividend has been increased by nearly 4 per cent.第一季度的股息增长了近 4%。

13 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

14 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

15 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。