经济学人34:艾滋病 伙计们,请一起行动

 　　Science and Technolgy

　　科技
　　AIDS
　　艾滋病（获得性免疫缺乏综合症）
　　Get your act together, guys
　　伙计们，请一起行动
　　Two UN reports on AIDS are coming out this month. That is one too many
　　本月联合国将发布了两份关于艾滋病的报告，其中一份实在多余
　　SOMETHING odd is going on in the international AIDS establishment. December 1st has been designated (as it is every year) to be "World AIDS Day". That is a signal for the United Nations to put out a report on the state of the epidemic 1. This year, though, there are to be two reports.
　　国际艾滋病机构发生了件奇怪的事情：每年12月1日被认定为"国际艾滋病日"。联合国也会在每年这个时候发布一份有关艾滋病状况的报告。然而今年会有两份这样的报告。
　　On November 21st UNAIDS, an agency created in 1996 to deal specifically with the then-newish disease, published its assessment 2 of the situation. This reaffirmed what has become clear recently: that the epidemic is being beaten back by the widespread deployment 3 of drugs, in combination with changes in the behaviour of those most at risk. The annual number of deaths has fallen to 1.8m, from its peak of 2.2m in 2005. New infections have also fallen, from a peak of 3.2m in 1997 to 2.7m last year. The report went on to outline what it calls an investment framework, designed to deal with the epidemic in the most cost-effective way. This builds on an analysis published in the Lancet in June by Bernhard Schwartl?nder, UNAIDS's director of evidence, strategy and results. It attempts to prescribe, for each part of the world, the mixture of drug treatment, condom-promotion, prophylactic 4 circumcision and so on that will bring most benefit to the fight.
　　UNAIDS，是一家1996年建立的特别处理这种在当时还是非常罕见的疾病（艾滋病）的机构，今年11月21日，其发布了一份关于艾滋病现状的评估。这份评估再次重申了近期发生的一些明显的变化：那就是通过药物的配置普遍广泛，以及在那些具有较高危险的行为上所做出的改变，使得艾滋病正在一步步被击退。其中。每年该病的死亡人数已经从在2005年最高峰时的220万下降到现在的180万。同时，新感染的人数也从1997年最高峰时段的320万回落到去年的270万。该篇报道也勾画了一份所谓的投资构架，目的是以最经济的方法解决艾滋病问题。该投资构架是以 Bernhard Schwartl?nder，这位在UNAIDS搜集证据，制定策略以及结果分析部门的主管在今年六月的Lancet杂志所发表的分析文章为基础所提出的。这项构想尝试为世界各个地区提供一种混合的方案，包括药物治疗，加强避孕套的宣传，倡导具有预防效果的环切手术等一些措施，争取掌握这场疾病战斗的主动权。
　　On November 30th, however, a joint 5 report by the World Health Organisation 6 (WHO), the United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF) and-you've guessed it-UNAIDS comes out. What it will say is still under wraps. But WHO and UNICEF are also sponsors of UNAIDS, so the duplication of effort looks odd.
　　然而，就在晚些时候，国际健康组织（WHO）、联合国儿童基金会（UNICEF）和，也许你已经猜到了，UNAIDS在11月30日联手发布了一份联合报告。报告的内容尚未对外公布。但是，由于国际健康组织和联合国儿童基金会同时也是UNAIDS的赞助商，所以这样的重复工作确实有点奇怪。
　　Both sides seem miffed by the other's actions. Michel Sidibé, the head of UNAIDS, described the production of separate reports as "costly 7 and inefficient 8". Gottfried Hirnschall, the WHO's director of HIV/AIDS, says it had been agreed that in 2011 the three organisations would work together and jointly 9 release a single report.
　　双方都对对方的行为表示不满。 UNAIDS主席 Michel Sidibé认为这样的两份独立却又类似的报告既浪费又达不到效果。WHO负责HIV/AIDS项目的主管 Gottfried Hirnschall称三家组织早已达成一致在2011将一起发表一份报告。
　　Though the AIDS epidemic has been knocked back by the huge sums of money now being thrown at it (about $15 billion a year at the moment, in poor and middle-income countries), continued success requires an uninterrupted supply of drugs-and therefore of the cash to pay for them. The state of the world's economy means politicians are looking for any excuse to save money. Not a good moment to be squabbling.
　　尽管依靠巨额的投资（大约每年有150亿美元的专款基金投入到中低收入地区）已经遏制住艾滋病的蔓延，进一步的成功需要持续不断的药物供应，还有因此而带来的资金支持。而就目前的全球经济情况看，政客们都在寻找合适的借口缩减投资，所以现在可不是一个争吵的时候。