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BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 473
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 473 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 473
READING PASSAGE – 2
AIDS officially in decline
The HIV pandemic which started 28 years ago is officially in decline, two of the world’s leading health organisations say. The number of new HIV infections peaked in the mid-1990s and has since declined by almost a third, according to the annual update on the pandemic for 2009, published yesterday by Joint United Nations programme on HIV/Acids (UNAids) and the world Health Organisation.
It is the first time that UNAids and the WHO have confirmed that the pandemic is on a downward trend and represents a landmark in the history of the disease. In their 2008 report, they said suggestions the epidemic had peaked were “speculation” and that it was “difficult to predict the epidemic’s future course”. That report warned: “The HIV epidemic has repeatedly defied predictions…. HIV is likely to have additional surprises in store that the world must be prepared to address.”
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But the 2009 update throws scientific caution to the winds and instead states clearly that the pandemic has passed its zenith: “The latest epidemiological data indicate that globally the spread of HIV appears to have peaked in 1996 when 3.5 million new infections occurred. In 2008 that estimated number of new HIV infections was approximately 30 percent lower than at the epidemic’s peak 12 years earlier.”
It says that, in sub-Saharan Africa the worst-affected region-new infections in 2008 were “approximately 25 per cent lower than at the epidemic’s peak in the region in 1995″. It adds: “Asia’s epidemic peaked in the mid-1990s and annual HIV incidence has subsequently declined by more than half. Regionally, the epidemic has remained somewhat stable since 2000.”
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The annual report from UNAids and the WHO is the official record of the progress of HIV/Aids, and confirmation that the worst disease of modern times is in decline will be widely welcomed. Two years ago the organisations admitted that they had overestimated the numbers affected and revised the total down from 40 million to 33 million.
Despite the fall in new infections, the number living with HIV increased last year to 33.4 million as people are surviving longer with the roll-out of antiretroviral drug treatment. Greater access to drugs has helped cut the death toll by 10 per cent over the past five years. There are now 4 million people on the drugs worldwide, a 10-fold increase in five years. The report says 2.9 million lives have been saved since effective treatment became available in 1996 but less than half the patients who need them are currently getting them.
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The reasons for the decline in new infections are disputed. UNAids said prevention programmes involving sex education, HIV awareness campaigns and distributing condoms had had an impact.
Critics said the pandemic was already in decline before prevention programmes were widely implemented and the disease was burning itself out. Ties Boerma, a WHO statistics expert, said countries whose HIV prevalence declined dramatically, like Zimbabwe, were not always those that got the most HIV cash. Experts at UNAids said new infections had fallen 17 per cent since2001, when the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/Aids was signed, Triggering a global push to deliver anti-retroviral drugs and prevention programmes to the hardest hit part of the world.
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Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAids, said:”we have evidence that the part, to HIV prevention. However, the findings also show that prevention programming is often off the mark and that, if we do a better job of getting resource and programmes to where they will make most impact quicker, progress can be made and more lives saved.”
But Philip Stevens of international Policy Network, the London-based think- tank, said with HIV declining it was time to rethink global spending priorities and switch funds currently being spent on HIV to other conditions that kill more people. Globally, HIV causes about 4 per cent of all deaths, but gets 23 pence in every pound spent on development aid for health ($21.7bn in 2007, or euro 13.1 bn). Mr. Stevens said:” in most countries HIV is a relatively minor problem compared with other conditions such as malaria and diarrheal disease. The exception is sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa has 23 per cent prevalence but in many other countries [in the region] it is 3 to 5 per cent.
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“They have a problem but it is not the huge problem that UNAids is claiming. We shouldn’t let this single disease continue to distort overall global funding, especially when bigger killers like pneumonia and diarrhea in developing countries are far easier and cheaper to treat.” Mr. Stevens said the “single issue advocacy” by UNAids, which existed solely to draw money to the disease, had distorted global health priorities. “Governments are now talking about placing a bigger emphasis on primary care and building up public health systems”.
Dr. Karen Stanecki, senior adviser to UNAids, said repeated studies in different part of the world, comparing the reduction in new infections with what happened where there was no intervention, had demonstrated the effectiveness of prevention programmes. “The decline was over and above the natural decline in the epidemic. They showed it could only have been explained by behavioural change.” She denied that too much was being spent fighting HIV/Aids. “We are facing a great many challenges. There are still 7,400 new infections a day. For every five people who become infected, two start on treatment. So we still have a long way to go.”
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Questions 14-18
Look at the following list of names and questions 14 to 18.
Match each statement with the appropriate name, A-D.
Write the correct letter, A-D.
A. Michel Sidibe
B. Dr. Karen Stanecki
C. Ties Boerma
D. Philip Stevens
14. The countries where aids declined dramatically were not the countries that received most help.
15. If preventive programmes are more effective, more lives can be saved.
16. There are diseases other than AIDS that deserve more attention.
17. The huge funding spent on AIDS is unreasonable.
18. The decrease in the number of new HIV infections proves the success of prevention programmes.
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Questions 19-21
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-G, from the list below.
Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 19-21 on your answer sheet.
19. It was difficult to guess the future course of AIDS because
20. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of new infections in 2008 was
21. The number of people living with HIV infection increased because
A. Seventy-five percent of the infections in 1995
B. The calculations had failed to materialize
C. Twenty-five percent of the infections in 1995
D. Data is not available regarding the accurate spread of HIV in the past few years
E. More people are getting infected
F. AIDS has become less life-threatening
G. Effective medication is available these days
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Questions 22-27
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 22-27 of your answer sheet, write
YES – if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO – if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN – if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
22. The spread of HIV was beyond predictions.
23. Lack of anti-retroviral drugs is the reason behind the present increase in the number of people living with HIV.
24. Most HIV patients who need treatment are deprived of it.
25. Some people believe that the retreat of AIDS has no connection with the prevention programmes.
26. Some countries where AIDS declined dramatically did not receive any funding.
27. There are people who opine that as too much attention is given to HIV, other more serious problems remain unattended.
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ANSWERS
14. C
15. A
16. D
17. D
18. B
19. B
20. A
21. G
22. YES
23. NO
24. YES
25. YES
26. NOT GIVEN
27. YES
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