VOA标准英语2012--Campaign Aims to Help End Childhood HIV Infections

Campaign Aims to Help End Childhood HIV Infections

A new campaign’s been launched to help eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015. It’s called Believe it, Do it.

It’s estimated nearly 400,000 children become infected with the AIDS virus every year -- mostly in low and middle income countries. In 2010, 250,000 children under age 15 died of HIV-related causes.

UNAIDS officials said around 3.4 million children under the age of 15 are currently living with HIV. What’s more, about 42,000 women die annually¹ from complications relating to HIV and pregnancy².

Problem areas

The Believe it. Do it campaign follows last year’s U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS. It aims to raise awareness³ of the Global Plan endorsed⁴ by leaders to end new childhood HIV infections by 2015.

Karusa Kiragu of Kenya is a UNAIDS senior advisor⁵ on child and maternal⁶ health. Kiragu said there are only two regions of the world where mother-to-child-transmission continues to a major problem. But they are big regions.

“It is a problem in sub-Saharan Africa and India - precisely⁷ 22 countries that make-up about 90 percent of mother to child transmission burden globally. So because we’ve been able to zero-down on exactly where it’s a problem – and because it has been solved elsewhere – we feel we must solve it in other places as well where it’s a problem. And it’s an issue of equity⁸. If it can be done somewhere else, we should be able to do it in other places,” she said.

The Believe it. Do it campaign is being launched prior to Mother’s Day with the idea that “every day is Mother’s Day.” The targeted audience is not in sub-Saharan Africa or India, but rather mothers in the U.S., Britain and other major industrialized countries. Kiragu said their support is needed for the Global Plan to succeed.

“I think it’s important,” she said, “for societies to be informed and educated about what’s going on outside their borders. I think in many ways it helps mothers in the United States understand that when there are discussions around overseas development assistance, for example, when there are discussions around giving U.S. taxpayer⁹ money oftentimes to other countries, it is going to help in these sorts of issues – issues that are very personal and very individual at a family level. These challenges, even if they don’t exist in the U.S., they do exist elsewhere.”

Right medicines, correct doses

She said the know-how¹⁰ and affordable¹¹ resources exist to end most mother-to-child-transmission of HIV. She says without antiretroviral treatment, HIV is transmitted from mothers to their infants during childbirth about 40 percent of the time. With treatment, that drops to just 2 percent.

“In some countries as high as 90 percent of women who need ARVs to prevent mother-to-child transmission are getting them, in some countries only 12 percent. So it depends on where you are. But each one of these countries is also trying to provide not just the antiretrovirals, but the best quality antiretroviral -- the one that will give them the maximum impact. So it’s a combination not only of access, but access to quality antiretrovirals,” she said.

Kiragu says those babies that are born with HIV despite best efforts need special care.

“The treatment for children is more complicated, whereas medicine for adults is simply [to] take a regular dose and that is that. For children the dose you take depends on the weight of the child. So someone has to be calibrating¹² this for a child. If they don’t get treatment, 50 percent of them will not see their second birthday. And every child deserves a second birthday, a third and a fourth and much beyond. So medicines for children are really, really important,” she said.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe called the Global Plan to end childhood HIV infections “an amazing opportunity,” but he warned “the clock is ticking” and public support is needed.

1 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

2 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

3 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。

4 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

6 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

7 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

8 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

9 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

10 know-how   

n.知识；技术；诀窍

参考例句：

• He hasn't got the know-how to run a farm.他没有经营农场的专业知识。
• I don't have much know-how about engines.发动机方面的技术知识我知之甚少。

11 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。

12 calibrating   

v.校准( calibrate的现在分词 )；使标准化；使合标准；测量（枪的）口径

参考例句：

• The value of the threshold strain is determined by calibrating the coating. 阈值应变的数值是靠对涂层进行标定测出来的。 来自辞典例句
• Dewpoint hygrometers provide an absolute measurement of humidity and therefore are essentially self-calibrating. 露点湿度计可提供湿度的绝对量测值，因此它基本上是自动标定的。 来自辞典例句