2006年VOA标准英语-Report Shows Drop in Zimbabwe's AIDS Infection

By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
19 December 2006

In a year when Zimbabwe's economy continued to plummet¹ and its death rate continued to soar, there was one piece of good news: the rate of infection of HIV/AIDS has dropped significantly. Peta Thornycroft reports that a new demographic survey, the first of its type to be done in Zimbabwe, has confirmed that Zimbabwe is the first southern African country to have reduced the numbers of people contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

It has been a terrible year for most Zimbabweans suffering under a collapsing² economy and state repression³.

A mother and child, both HIV positive at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare, (2005 file photo)

In its latest global report, the World Health Organization says Zimbabwe women have the lowest life expectancy⁴ in the world, between 34-38 years. Every fourth child is an orphan⁵, another world record.

Zimbabwe also has the highest rate of inflation at more than 1000 percent. It has the fastest shrinking economy in the world in a country that is not at war.

The rare good news is that Zimbabwe is the only country in southern Africa with a decreasing rate of infection of HIV/AIDS.

A group of international donors⁶, which included the United States, funded the first Demographic Health Survey in Zimbabwe and the results were released earlier this month.

Zimbabwe's HIV infection rate among sexually active people has dropped to 18 percent, from a high the government says was over 30 percent.

A 65-year-old grandmother in Harare, who wishes to be known as Mary Mutasa, has lost three of her seven children, as well as three grandchildren, to HIV/AIDS. She is caring for two of her orphaned⁷ grandchildren, with help from compassionate⁸ employers.

Last year her home, along with thousands of others, was knocked down as part of a government-mandated campaign called Murambatsvina, or Clean-out-the-trash.

But amid all the hardships, she says there is one positive development. She has noticed that fewer young people are dying now in the working-class suburb where she lives than earlier in the decade.

"I know because at the location where I stay we had many, many funerals, now it's better, last time, now it is better... There are still funerals but it is not like last time, 2000, 2003, 2001, now in 2005 there were some but it is better," she said. "In 2006 its better than before when every time, every day there were three funerals, some next door, over there over there, there were many, many, many ... now it's better."

Her first child to die was 22 years old.

"Brian was the first person to have got AIDS, my son Brian," she said. "The man I was working with said, 'Ah, Brian is becoming thin, he is becoming thin.' I didn't know that it was AIDS, now he was getting thin and thin and he said; 'Mummy, my legs are weak.' He was a driver, he was young, he was about 20 years, he started to have girlfriends, many girlfriends, because he was a driver."

Christopher Dell, U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, says the demographic survey confirmed the lowering infection rate. Previously⁹, HIV statistics were taken from pre-natal clinics and since many pregnant women can no longer afford to attend them, the data they provided became unreliable. Mr. Dell says the data for the latest survey were more accurate.

"We went around to almost 10,000 households, asked a lot of questions about health issues, not just HIV/AIDS, to establish a health baseline," he said. "Because it was so wide-ranging, and using modern research techniques we believe we have identified a real representative sample and for the first time we have solid evidence about the rate of prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe."

Earlier this month, United Nations envoy¹⁰ Stephen Lewis questioned whether Zimbabwe's infection rate was lowering. He speculated that the drop in HIV rates might be attributable to high mortality rates and the exodus¹¹ of Zimbabweans.

But Dell believes the figures can be trusted. One of the reasons he does, he says, is that a significant numbers of Zimbabweans have changed their sexual behavior.

"There are two contributors to this, principally increased condom use, the highest uptake [use] of condom use in the world, is here in Zimbabwe, secondly¹² young women are delaying the initiation¹³ of their sexual activity, avoiding some of the dangers that younger, less informed girls faced 10-15 years ago," he said.

Despite this good news, more than 3,000 young and often skilled people are dying every week in Zimbabwe from HIV/AIDS.

Even though there is almost universal awareness¹⁴ of the disease and how to prevent contracting it, the grandmother said people in her community still do not speak about the disease killing¹⁵ their children.

"You know people at the rural areas and at the location they don't like it known that they have AIDS," she said. "Some of them say someone gives them poison, but me, I know that it is AIDS."

But although Zimbabwe is making progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the country's ministry¹⁶ of health acknowledges much remains¹⁷ to be done. It say only 40,000 out of 300,000 people who need anti-retroviral drugs to keep the disease in check are currently receiving them. Health Minister David Parirenyatwa says he hopes Zimbabwe will provide free treatment for all those in need by 2010.

1 plummet   

vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌；n.铅坠；重压物

参考例句：

• Mengniu and Yili have seen their shares plummet since the incident broke.自事件发生以来，蒙牛和伊利的股票大幅下跌。
• Even if rice prices were to plummet,other brakes on poverty alleviation remain.就算大米价格下跌，其它阻止导致贫困的因素仍然存在。

2 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

3 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

4 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

5 orphan   

n.孤儿；adj.无父母的

参考例句：

• He brought up the orphan and passed onto him his knowledge of medicine.他把一个孤儿养大，并且把自己的医术传给了他。
• The orphan had been reared in a convent by some good sisters.这个孤儿在一所修道院里被几个好心的修女带大。

6 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》

7 orphaned   

[计][修]孤立

参考例句：

• Orphaned children were consigned to institutions. 孤儿都打发到了福利院。
• He was orphaned at an early age. 他幼年时便成了孤儿。

8 compassionate   

adj.有同情心的，表示同情的

参考例句：

• She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
• The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

10 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

11 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

12 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

13 initiation   

n.开始

参考例句：

• her initiation into the world of marketing 她的初次涉足营销界
• It was my initiation into the world of high fashion. 这是我初次涉足高级时装界。

14 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。

15 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

16 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

17 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。