VOA慢速英语:Does a Birth Control Method Raise HIV Risk?

The World Health Organization has called a meeting to discuss if there is truly a link between hormonal birth control and the spread of HIV.
世卫组织在组织召开的会议上讨论激素控制生育与艾滋病传播之间是否真的存在联系。

A new study in Africa looked mainly at the use of injectable hormones. It found that women who used them had double the risk of getting infected by a male partner with HIV. It also found that men were twice as likely to get HIV from infected women who used hormonal contraception than from those who did not. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
非洲的一项新的研究主要着眼于注射激素的使用。研究发现，使用这些激素的女性被携带艾滋病毒的男性伴侣感染的风险增加了一倍。该研究还发现，男性被使用激素避孕的女性艾滋病携带者感染的风险是被未使用激素避孕的女性艾滋病携带者感染风险的两倍。人类免疫缺陷病毒是导致艾滋病的病毒。

Renee Heffron and other researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle led the study. She advises couples to use condoms in addition to other forms of birth control to prevent HIV and unwanted pregnancy. She spoke on Skype from Kenya.
Renee Heffron和其他来自西雅图华盛顿大学的研究人员领导了这项研究。她在肯尼亚用通过Skype发言，她建议夫妻除了其它形式的避孕措施之外，还要使用避孕套来预防艾滋病毒和意外怀孕。

RENEE HEFFRON: "It’s really important that women continue to use hormonal contraceptives, but also that they really understand the importance of using condoms when they are using hormonal contraceptives, and that hormonal contraceptives don’t protect them against HIV, and in fact, may increase their risk."
RENEE HEFFRON：“妇女继续使用激素避孕药真的非常重要，而让她们真正理解在使用激素避孕药的同时也使用避孕套的重要性。激素避孕药不能保护他们免受艾滋病毒感染，而事实上，可能会增加他们感染的风险。”

The WHO has called a meeting of experts in January.
世卫组织呼吁明年一月召开一次专家会议。

Health groups have been promoting the use of injectable contraceptives as an easy and cost-effective form of birth control. The women can inject themselves, and each shot is effective for three months.
作为既简单又具备成本效益的避孕方式，卫生组织一直推广避孕针剂的实用。妇女们可以自己注射，每一针的有效期为三个月。

This method is far more popular among African women than birth control pills. HIV risk also appeared to increase in women who took contraceptives in pill form. But the researchers did not study enough of them to say for sure.
这种方法在非洲妇女之间远比服用避孕药流行。服用避孕药的妇女似乎也增加了感染艾滋病的风险。但是由于研究尚未充分，研究人员无法确定这一点。

The study involved close to four thousand heterosexual couples in Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Either the man or the woman already had HIV when the study began. The researchers tested the partners over a two-year period.
这项研究涉及了接近4000对在博茨瓦纳，肯尼亚，卢旺达，南非，坦桑尼亚，乌干达和赞比亚的异性伴侣。在研究开始时，无论男女，都无人感染艾滋病。研究人员对这些伴侣进行为期两年的测试。

The study appeared last week in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.
这项研究上周发表在《柳叶刀传染病》杂志上。

Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV. South of the Sahara, the virus has spread mainly through sex between men and women.
非洲的艾滋病毒感染人数最多。在撒哈拉以南，病毒的传播主要是通过异性之间的性行为。
Experts point out that even if the popular contraceptives increase the risk of HIV, there are also risks to increased pregnancies. Sub-Saharan Africa has high rates of pregnancy- and childbirth-related deaths in women and health problems in babies.
专家指出，即使普通避孕药会增加艾滋病毒感染风险，也增加了怀孕的风险。撒哈拉以南非洲地区与怀孕和分娩有关的妇女，以及有健康问题的婴儿的死亡率都很高。

The global development organization FHI 360 notes that earlier studies of this issue produced mixed results. It says a higher quality study is urgently needed to compare users of injectable hormones and other contraception methods. Such a study, it says, would take at least four to five years to produce results.
全球发展组织FHI 360指出，这一问题的早期研究产生了繁杂的结果。它称，迫切需要有一项更高质量的研究来比较注射型激素和其他避孕方法的使用者。它还称，这样的研究至少需要四到五年才能出成果。