VOA慢速英语:财富的增长不足以改善儿童健康

From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report.
美国之音英语教学，这里是经济报道。
A recent study questions whether placing attention on economic growth is the best way to improve child nutrition in low- and middle-income countries.
近来的一项研究对于在中低收入国家把注意力集中到经济增长是提高孩子营养的最好方法这一做法提出质疑。
Subu Subramanian is a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts. He says there is a common belief on the best way to improve child health in developing countries. He puts it this way: "Let's just go after economic growth and then everything else will just follow."
苏布萨博拉曼尼（Subu Subramanian）是马萨诸塞州哈佛大学公共健康方面的教授。他表示在发展中国家人们对于提高孩子营养的最佳方式上有一个共同的信念。他用这种方式总结这一信念：“经济增长是第一要务，经济增长了，其他的都会随之解决。”
But he says that is not always true. Take India for example, a common measure of a country's economic heath is gross domestic product (GDP). India's GDP has been growing by more than five percent a year, that is a higher growth rate than most Western countries.
但是苏布表示那并不总是正确的。比如说印度，衡量国家经济健康的标准是国民生产总值（GDP）印度的国民生产总值每年增长超过5%，超过了大多数的西方国家。
Yet more than two-fifths of India's children are underweight. And Subu Subramanian says, the percentage of underweight children has changed little since the the early 1990s. He and other researchers asked a question, "was economic growth failing to reach children in countries other than India?"
但是却有超过五分之二的印度儿童体重过轻。苏布先生表示到20世纪90年代初体重过轻的儿童所占比例几乎没有改变。他和其他的一些研究人员就提出质疑，“在其他的国家是否经济增长也不能改善儿童健康？”
They looked at health surveys carried out since 1990 in 36 low- and middle-income countries, mostly South of Africa's Sahara Desert. The researchers compared the effect of GDP growth and signs of child malnutrition - like stunted growth and being underweight. But the researchers found only a small relationship or correlation.
他们检查了自1990年36个中低收入国家发行的健康调查，大多数来自非洲以南的撒哈拉沙漠。研究人员对比国民生产总值增长和儿童营养不良情况（比如发育不良或者体重过轻）发现两者关联甚小。
"practically zero to very, very small," said Subramanian.
“几乎为零”萨博拉曼尼说到。
The group reported their findings in the journal Lancet Global Health. Subu Subramanian says money should be spent on clear water and waste-treatment system, childhood immunization campaigns and other programs.
研究小组将结果发表于Lancet Global Health杂志上。苏布萨博拉曼尼表示钱应当花在清洁水资源，整治废水处理系统，儿童免疫运动以及其他一些相关的项目上。
"Without these directing investments, what we are seeing is [that] economic growth by itself is not making much impact," said Subramanian.
萨博拉曼尼说“没有这些直接的投资，我们看到只是经济增长，看不到经济增长带来的一些影响。”
But that is not how Lawrence Haddad sees the issue. He is head of the Institute of Development Studies in Britain. Lawrence Haddad says malnutrition has dropped sharply over the past 20 years in countries like Vietnam, Ghana or Brazil. He says economic growth was responsible for half of those declines.
但是劳伦斯哈达德却有不同的看法。他是英国发展研究所所长。他说在过去的20年里像越南、加纳或者巴西这样的国家，营养不良的现象已显著下降。其中一半应当归功于经济增长。
"The other half is attributable to strategic investments in water, sanitation, health systems, nutrition programs," said Haddad.
哈达德说“另一半应当归功于对水资源，环境卫生，健康系统和营养项目的战略性投资。”
He says it takes both GDP growth and the right investments to improve child nutrition.
他说提高儿童营养英担从GDP增长和正确投资双管齐下。
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