More Low-Cost AIDS Drugs Mean More People Treated

Infected មានផ្ទុកឬឆ្លង                                       Successful ដែលជោគជ័យ

Death sentence ទោសប្រហារជីវិត                      Researchers អ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវ

Progress ការជឿនលឿន                                   Cost មានតម្លៃ

Effectiveness ប្រសិទ្ធភាព                                 anti-retroviral ពន្យារអាយុ

Oversea បរទេស                                              Government-financed ទទួលហិរញ្ញវត្ថុពីរដ្ឋាភិបាល

Cut កាត់បន្ថយ                                                  Transportation ការដឹកជញ្ជូន

Developing countries ប្រទេសកំពុងអភិវឌ្ឍ          Deal with ដោះស្រាយ

Chronic disease ជំងឺរ៉ាំរ៉ៃ                                    Diabetes ជំងឺទឹកនោមផ្អែម

Medication ការព្យាបាលដោយថ្នាំ                        Proposed ស្នើ

An American Program called the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief helps million of people infected with HIV. PEPFAR is considered one of the most successful programs created during the presidency of Goeuge W. Bush. Its goal was to change HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a disease that could be treated. And four million of people around the world that is just what happened. But researchers say it was not until PEPFAR started using generic drugs that major progress was made in fighting HIV/AIDS. Generic drugs are copies of medicines developed by large drug companies.

They often cost a lot less. Researchers from Brown University in Rhode Island studied the effectiveness of PEPFAR. Kartik Venkatesh was the lead author of a report about it. He says the high cost of patented anti-retroviral drugs influenced the program after it began.

American officials considered whether to provide patented drugs to HIV-infected patients, both in the United States and overseas. Dr. Venkatesh says some people believes that the drug industry wanted the government-financed program to use patented drugs. But generic drugs were shown to be effective in treating HIV as long ago as 2003. Using generic drugs helped cut the cost of treating a person from about $1,100 a year to about $300 a year in 2005. PEPFAR has also been able to save millions of dollars by reducing transportation costs. For example, the program uses ships instead of air planes to move the drugs.

Dr. Venkatesh says the PEPFAR model could be used to fight other diseases in developing countries. It could help the developing world deal with help problems that until recently had only been seen in richer countries.
Dr. Venkatesh says more and more people are understanding that chronic diseases could represent much larger health care costs in the future. Problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer will require long-term medication. He says a lot can be learned from the experience with PEPFAR and the use of generic drugs to treat HIV.

The Brown University Researchers have proposed creating a plan for what they called the “efficient and transparent” purchase of generic drugs. Planners would include the United States, the World Health Organization and generic drug manufacturers. 

VOA Learning English for VOA Special English 
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