VOA常速英语2015--非洲人认为就业比医疗更重要

非洲人认为就业比医疗更重要

A new report says sub-Saharan Africans rate their health and health care systems among the worst in the world. Nevertheless, improving health is not their top priority.

一份新报道称撒哈拉南部非洲人将当地的卫生和医疗系统列为全世界最糟糕的，然而，改善健康并非他们的头等大事。

The report’s been released as Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone continue to fight the Ebola outbreak – a situation that was made worse by the poor state of their health systems.

这份报道发布时，几内亚、利比里亚和塞拉利昂正继续对抗埃博拉疫情，而这些国家糟糕的卫生系统使得情况更加严重。

Angus Deaton, co-author of the study, said, “I think most of us thought these episodes burnt out very quickly and this one didn’t. And I think that was surprising to a lot of people. But – and this is relevant for our work – health care systems in sub-Saharan Africa are very poorly organized and very badly done. And of course that certainly contributed to the difficulties of bringing it under control.”

安格斯·迪顿是这份报道的联合作者，“我认为我们大多数人都认为这些问题都是很快爆发的，但这个问题并非如此。我想让很多人吃了一惊，但是这与我们的工作有关，撒哈拉南部非洲的医疗系统组织得很糟，做得也很差。当然这就导致了控制问题的难度。”

Deaton is Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School. It’s important, he said, to understand what Africans list as their top priorities.

迪顿是普林斯顿大学伍德罗·威尔逊学院艾森豪威尔经济学和国际事务教授，他说，重要的是理解非洲人将什么列为其重中之重。

“People in Africa don’t think of health as their highest priority, at least for the government -- whereas most aid agencies have been prioritizing health pretty heavily.”

“非洲人并不认为健康是最重要的，至少对政府而言，而大多数援助机构都对健康非常重视。”

He summarized the views of sub-Saharan Africans based on the findings of Gallup’s annual World Polls.

他根据盖勒普年度世界调查结果总结了撒哈拉南部非洲人的看法。

He said, “They perceive their health pretty badly. They perceive their overall well-being 1 pretty badly. Well-being is broader than just health. So, you know, many people sort of think, well, if you lived in a poor country all your life you’re used to it by now. And you’d be just about as happy as everybody else. But if you ask people how their lives are going sub-Saharan Africans rate those very poorly. So, they know that life could be better.”

“他们非常不重视健康，非常不重视整体的福利，福利比健康更加宽泛。所以，很多人只是认为，如果你生活在穷国，那么你会习惯于你的生活，你会像其他人一样快乐。但如果你问他们的生活如何，撒哈拉南部非洲人都认为很糟，所以他们知道生活是可以变得更好的。”

The same is true, Deaton said, of their perceptions of health care.

迪顿说，他们对医疗的看法也是如此。

“Can you imagine a health care system that spends about $100 a year per person? That’s not going to deliver very much health care.”

“你能想象下一个每年在每人身上花费100美元的医疗系统吗？这不会带来多少医疗效果的。”

So, if improving poor health care systems is not the top priority among Africans, what is?

那么，如果改善糟糕的医疗系统并非非洲人的头等大事，那么什么才是呢？

“If you asked them what government should be doing for them, they want money and jobs more than they want health, which is interesting. And I think it has something to do with the fact that there’s a lot of morbidity 2 and mortality in Africa,” he said.

“如果你问他们政府应该为他们做什么，与健康相比，他们更想要钱和工作，这很有趣。我想与非洲存在的高生病率和死亡率有关。”

During the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic 3 in Africa, health workers say many infected people wanted food more than medical care. They knew the disease would take years to kill them, but a lack of food could do it much sooner.

在非洲艾滋病毒和艾滋病疫情的早期，卫生工作者说很多感染者更想要食物，而不是医疗。他们知道这种疾病会在几年内杀死他们，但是缺少食物会让死亡更快来临。

The findings show jobs are more important because they have an immediate 4 effect on people’s well-being.

这些发现表明，就业之所以更重要，是因为就业直接影响着人们的福祉。

“Some countries less than half of the population has ever had any contact whatsoever 5 with a health professional. That’s pretty amazing. And there are certainly differences in that across countries. So, you get a country like Sudan or Somaliland, where it’s less than half – and then you places like Benin or Madagascar where 90 percent – or Senegal where more than 90 percent of the people -- have had some contact with health systems somewhere in their lives. So, there’s a huge amount of variability across Africa,” he said.

“在一些国家，只有不到一半的人接触过医疗专家，这令人吃惊。当然各个国家存在不同，所以，像苏丹和索马里兰这样的国家，这个比例是不到一半，然后在贝宁或马达加斯加或塞内加尔，有90%以上的人与当地的医疗系统有过接触。所以整个非洲存在很大的差异。”

After an initial slow response to the West Africa Ebola outbreak, the international community poured in a lot of money and resources. Some observers say this will allow Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, not only to get better health care systems, but to maintain them. Deaton doubts this and said they could easily slip back to pre-Ebola conditions.

在西非埃博拉疫情爆发后，国际社会最初的反映较慢，但后来投入了大量资金和资源。一些观察家称这就使得几内亚、利比里亚和塞拉利昂不仅可以得到更好的医疗系统，但能维持该系统。迪顿对此表示怀疑，称这些系统能轻易地回到埃博拉之前的状态。

“I don’t think just very easily. I’d be stunned 6 if it didn’t happen. The fundamental problem is just incapacity of the state,” he said.

“我认为这并很容易，如果不发生这情况我才会吃惊，根本问题是国家的无能。”

The Princeton professor said donors 7 and aid agencies should take the study’s findings seriously. They show that 31 percent chose jobs as their top priority, while 21 percent picked improving agriculture. Nearly 14 and a half percent chose tackling corruption 8, while 13 and a half percent decided 9 on education and health care. Just over six percent chose electricity as the top priority.

这位普林斯顿大学教授说，捐赠者和援助机构应该严肃对待这份研究的国家，研究表明31%的人认为就业是最重要的事，21%的人将改善农业作为重要事情。近14.5%的人认为腐败更重要，13.5%的人认为教育和医疗是头等大事，只有6%的人认为电力更重要。

The study said those who chose jobs and agriculture shared an underlying 10 factor – better livelihoods 11.

研究称那些选择就业和农业的人有着一个共同点，那就是希望更好的生活。