VOA标准英语2008年-Nearly 3 Million AIDS Sufferers Receiving Treat

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
02 June 2008

A new report finds nearly three million HIV-positive people in low and middle-income countries now are receiving life-saving anti-retroviral treatment. While praising this accomplishment¹, the World Health Organization says millions of people still lack access to prevention and treatment. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from WHO headquarters in Geneva.

The World Health Organization calls this treatment for AIDS victims a remarkable² achievement. But, says too many HIV-positive people still do not receive the drugs they need to remain alive.

The report shows that last year nearly one-third of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are receiving treatment. But, that leaves 6.7 million HIV-sufferers who are not.
　

Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, speaks during a press briefing at the United Nations building in Geneva, Switzerland, 02 Jun 2008

In addition to this, WHO Director-General, Margaret Chan, says the disease is not static. New cases of HIV keep occurring. She says much more attention must be paid to prevention in order to keep ahead of this unforgiving epidemic³.

"For every two persons we manage to get to, to provide them with ART [anti-retroviral treatment], another five persons get infected," said Chan. "So, if we do not concentrate on prevention, it is very difficult to play the catching-up game, even let alone going ahead of it. So, again, we cannot underestimate the power of prevention."

The report notes almost three quarters of people receiving drugs for HIV are in Africa, where the epidemic is disproportionately severe. WHO reports women account for half of all people living with HIV worldwide and nearly 60 percent of HIV infections in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Associate Director of the Geneva Office of UNICEF, Pascal Villeneuve, says the prevention of mother-to-child transmission has improved. But, he says too many infants continue to be infected because far too many women learn they have the virus only when pregnant or during delivery.

"Over 400,000 children were newly infected in 2007. Without care and treatment, about one-third of these children will die in their first year of life and almost half by the second. The number of children receiving anti-retroviral treatment increased from 75,000 in 2005 to nearly 200,000 in 2007, a 2.6 fold increase. However, many children living with HIV are still not receiving treatment and mortality among them remains⁴ unacceptably high."

WHO says it believes universal access to anti-retroviral treatment is achievable if certain obstacles can be overcome. It notes tuberculosis⁵ is a leading cause of death among HIV infected people around the world, and the number one cause of death among those living in Africa.

It says people are dying because they are unable to either prevent TB or get the life-saving medication they need for both TB and HIV.

The report's authors also warn access to treatment is likely to be slowed because of weak health systems in the worst-affected countries and the difficulty of training and retaining health-care workers.

1 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。