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Experts Say as AIDS Epidemic Changes, So Should Prevention Efforts

March 6th, 2010 at 09:26am Under Health report

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Tuesday was World AIDS Day, and the latest report on the epidemic provided some reason to celebrate.

Experts say new H.I.V. infections have fallen by seventeen percent since two thousand one. Estimates for sub-Saharan Africa are down by about fifteen percent. In East Asia new infections with the virus that causes AIDS have decreased almost twenty-five percent.

In Eastern Europe, the epidemic has leveled off. But new infections appear to be rising again in some countries.

The report came last week from the UNAIDS program and the World Health Organization.

Students from the American University of Beirut light candles to bring attention to AIDS in Lebanon on World AIDS Day

It says H.I.V.-related deaths appear to have reached their highest point in two thousand four. Since the peak, deaths have fallen by around ten percent as more people have received treatment.

Experts credit the good news in the report at least in part to prevention programs, not just the natural progress of the epidemic. Yet the report points out that while the AIDS epidemic is changing, prevention programs are not.

Karen Stanecki at UNAIDS says few programs, for example, are designed for people in secure relationships. Or people over twenty-five. Or the newly single.

AIDS is the leading cause of death in women age fifteen to forty-four. Those are the main years for having children.

The W.H.O. is now advising infected women to begin antiretroviral drugs at fourteen weeks of pregnancy, instead of twenty-eight. Women are also advised to continue treatment through the recommended end of breastfeeding, when the baby is one year old. This reduces the risk of infecting the child.

Treatments and population growth mean more people than ever are living with H.I.V. The latest estimates say almost thirty-three and a half million have the virus. There were two million AIDS-related deaths last year, and two million seven hundred thousand new infections.

About two-thirds of the people with H.I.V. are in sub-Saharan Africa. Hardest hit is South Africa. On Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma announced an expansion of testing and treatment. By next April, he says, all H.I.V.-infected children less than one year old will receive treatment.

AIDS research continues. On Monday the United States said it will hold the two thousand twelve International AIDS Conference. The event has not taken place here since nineteen ninety because of restrictions against visitors with H.I.V. The travel ban will end January fourth.

And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I’m Steve Ember.

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Half of US Jobs Now Held by Women

March 4th, 2010 at 09:24am Under Economy Report

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Women are on their way to holding more than half of all American jobs. The latest government report shows that their share of nonfarm jobs nearly reached fifty percent in September. Not only have more and more women entered the labor market over the years, but the recession has been harder on men. In October the unemployment rate for men was almost eleven percent, compared to eight percent for women.

Former eBay chief Meg Whitman, right, a Republican candidate for California governor, talks to a supporter at a business women’s conference

Industries that traditionally use lots of men have suffered deep cuts. For example, manufacturing and building lost more jobs last month. But health care and temporary employment services have had job growth. Both of those industries employ high percentages of women.

Thirty years ago, women earned sixty-two cents for every dollar that men earned. Now, for those who usually work full time, women earn about eighty percent of what men earn. And women hold fifty-one percent of good-paying management and professional jobs.

Yet a study released Thursday said men still hold about nine out of every ten top positions at the four hundred largest companies in California. The results have remained largely unchanged in five years of studies from the University of California, Davis.

Also, a new research paper in the journal Sex Roles looks at the experiences of women who are the main earners in their family. Rebecca Meisenbach at the University of Missouri in Columbia interviewed fifteen women. She found they all valued their independence and many enjoyed having the power of control, though not all wanted it.

But they also felt pressure, worry and guilt. Partly that was because of cultural expectations that working women will still take care of the children. Also, men who are not the main earners may feel threatened.

The job market continues to suffer the effects of last year’s financial crash. Now, a judgment has been reached in the first case involving charges of criminal wrongdoing on Wall Street.

Last week, the government lost its case against two managers at Bear Stearns, the first investment bank to fail last year. A jury found Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin not guilty of lying to investors.

The hedge funds they supervised lost their value in two thousand seven. But jurors said there was no clear evidence that they meant to mislead investors.

The Justice Department continues to investigate other companies.

And that’s the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I’m Steve Ember.

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