Many communities have a low literacy rate, making impossible passing out AIDS literature and expecting people to read it. (Para.8)
Meaning: Most of the people in many communities are not able to read and write,
and this makes it impossible to hand out the materials about AIDS and expect them to read them.
Please pay attention to the following expressions using "rate".
a low literacy rate or a low rate of literacy 受教育比例低
a high death rate 高死亡率
When the birth-rate increases and the death rate drops, the population increases. 当出生率上升，死亡率下降时，人口就会增加。