VOA标准英语2011--New Initiative Provides Better Treatment

New Initiative Provides Better Treatment for Pediatric AIDS

A new initiative has been launched to provide more and better treatment to children infected with HIV. Organizers say pediatric AIDS in developing countries should be considered a neglected disease because it’s not receiving the attention it should.
It’s estimated one thousand children every day are infected with the AIDS virus. It usually happens when infected women give birth. It’s also estimated that 700 children die every day from AIDS.
“It’s extremely serious. There are more than 2.5 million children who are currently living with HIV. The overwhelming majority of those – something like 92 percent – live in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Rachel Cohen, regional executive director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative in North America.
Cohen said pediatric AIDS has virtually been eliminated in rich nations and therefore is not in the public eye.
New focus
“Our organization has historically focused almost entirely¹ on the most neglected tropical diseases, like African sleeping sickness, visceral leishmaniasis or chaqas disease. But as a result of several international organizations approaching us – Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières, UNITAID and a few others – asked us to supply our expertise² in the area of drug development to the problem of pediatric HIV, which is why we started looking into it in 2010 and have now formally launched our program in 2011,” said Cohen.
Often, relatively³ inexpensive treatments exist for neglected diseases, but they’re not available in poor countries – or pharmaceutical⁴ companies don’t foresee much of a profit in developing new or better treatments for them.
Cohen said drugs are available to prevent mother-to-child-transmission of HIV, but not enough women are getting them.
“Many women just don’t have access to ante-natal care, so never even attend an ante-natal service where they can be diagnosed. Even if they do, very few pregnant women are offered an HIV test. And access to optimal⁵ antiretroviral prophylaxis or therapy is really insufficient⁶. And there are a number of other barriers. Alternatives to breastfeeding are uncommon⁷, etc. And so we still find that a huge number of children are born with HIV in poor countries,” she said.
Speeding the process
It can take years to develop antiretrovirals suitable for children. The initiative wants to speed that process because current treatments for kids don’t pass the taste test.
“Ideally, we want this pediatric therapy to be very easy to administer and better tolerated by children than the current drugs. Today there are separate liquid preparations of some antiretrovirals for children under three, but they taste terrible. Children have a difficult time to tolerate them. They’re very difficult to administer for caregivers,” Cohen said.
The drugs also need to remain stable in tropical temperatures and be available in simple doses. The drugs also have to be compatible with other medicines the HIV-infected children may be taking.
“Because tuberculosis⁸ is so highly prevalent – and many, many children are co-infected with TB and HIV– we need to find a way to ensure that the regimen that we produce is compatible with TB drugs that that they can be co-administered,” she said.
The World Health Organization recommends immediate⁹ treatment for HIV-infected children under two years of age. The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative says the goal is to develop a first-line therapy for children that is effective, available and affordable¹⁰.

1 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

2 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

5 optimal   

adj.最适宜的；最理想的；最令人满意的

参考例句：

• What is the optimal mix of private and public property rights in natural resources?私人和国家的自然资源产权的最适宜的组合是什么？
• Optimal path planning is a key link for the sailing contest.帆船最优行驶路径规划是帆船比赛取胜的关键环节。

6 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

7 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

8 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。

9 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

10 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。