As the United Nations marks World AIDS Day this year (Dec. 1) it is celebrating a major milestone: a drop in the number of AIDS-related deaths around the world. But funding for continued AIDS research and treatment is also dropping for the first time in the 30-year old epidemic, and health experts warn that this trend must be reversed if the spread of the disease is to be halted.

A new United Nations report says the number of people worldwide becoming infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has dropped by 21 percent since the global epidemic peaked in 1997.Those new infections have plateaued at about 2.7 million cases per year.

The report says 34 million people worldwide are living with HIV due to improved access to drug treatments.

Michel Sidibe, executive director of the joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, says 2011 has been a milestone year in the global fight against AIDS.

"You know, for us this year is a game-changing year. It is the first time that the science was telling us, if we put people on treatment early, we can reduce the new infection rate by ninety-six percent. So, we are dropping this false dichotomy between prevention and treatment," Sidibe said.

Timely drug therapies have slowed the pace of HIV deaths and new infections, and helped avert an estimated 700,000 AIDS-related deaths.

But there are still major challenges ahead, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of the pioneers in the fight to stop the AIDS epidemic.

“The more people you get on therapy, the earlier you diagnose it, the less deaths you will see, that’s good news.The sobering news is we still have a long way to go. We still don’t have the epidemic under control,” Fauci said.

The U.N. data show that in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, more than a million people are still dying of the disease every year.

In these HIV hot zones, experts agree that early intervention with antiretroviral drugs can save lives and slow transmission rates.But Dr. Fauci says pairing this treatment with proven prevention strategies is key to getting the epidemic under control.

"The fact that you put people on treatment, get their viral load to a level that’s low enough, then it is extremely unlikely that those people will transmit the infection to their uninfected sexual partner. So, if you combine all of the prevention modalities and superimpose upon that treatment of more and more people, then you could start to see some significant downturn in the pandemic,” Fauci said.

Funding is also essential to continued research on an HIV vaccine and other prevention and treatment efforts. But humanitarian organizations report that donor support has dropped for the first time, from 7.6 billion dollars in 2009 to 6.9 billion dollars in 2010.Sidibe says U.N. member countries have promised to fill the gap, and he's hopeful they will:

“I think this report is telling us that it's just not time to pull out.It is time to invest in AIDS because the results are there," Sidibe said.

The UNAIDS director says those investments can turn the tide, and mark the beginning of the end of the AIDS pandemic.

短语讲解：

1. A new United Nations report says the number of people worldwide becoming infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has dropped by 21 percent since the global epidemic peaked in 1997.

infect with把…传染给…

例句：The man has been infected with cholera.

这人已染上了霍乱。

2. The more people you get on therapy, the earlier you diagnose it, the less deaths you will see, that’s good news.

get on进行

例句：I asked how he was getting on at school.

我问他在学校情况怎样。

3. The U.N. data show that in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, more than a million people are still dying of the disease every year.

die of死于

例句：People are dying of cancer more and more often.

死于癌症的人越来越多了。

4. But Dr. Fauci says pairing this treatment with proven prevention strategies is key to getting the epidemic under control.

under control处于控制之下; 被控制住

例句：The police kept the mob under control.

警察将暴徒制服。

5. The fact that you put people on treatment, get their viral load to a level that’s low enough, then it is extremely unlikely that those people will transmit the infection to their uninfected sexual partner.

put on穿上, 戴上; 把…放在…上

例句：The trees have put on their new coats of green.

树木披上了新绿。

6. “I think this report is telling us that it's just not time to pull out.It is time to invest in AIDS because the results are there," Sidibe said.

pull out (从疾病、不愉快的心境等中)恢复

例句：She's been very depressed recently, but I'm sure she'll soon pull out of it.

她近来一直很抑郁, 但我相信不久她就会振作起来的。