走向富裕的亞洲人健康問題日益嚴重大綱
Economies in Southeast Asia are not the only things growing in the region. Waistlines are too -- and that has doctors and health experts worried about the strains a clutch of new health problems could put on many countries still in the process of developing.
伴隨着東南亞地區經濟一同增長的，還有人們的腰圍――醫生和衛生專家擔心，一系列新的健康問題可能會對許多發展中國家造成負擔。Rapid economic growth has created new and expanding middles classes in places like Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. But new affluence is also driving up the rate of 'life-style' diseases, including hypertension, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory illness, say doctors.
在印度尼西亞、菲律賓和越南等地，快速增長的經濟催生了不斷壯大的新興中產階級。而據醫生稱，全新的小康生活也促使高血壓、癌症、糖尿病、慢性呼吸道疾病等“生活方式疾病”的發病率上升。Together, those diseases account for 80% of the deaths in Asia, but health experts say it need not be that way -- most could be addressed by people simply changing the way they eat and live.
亞洲的因病死亡人口中，這些疾病加一起佔了全部死亡原因的80%，但衛生專家稱，通過日常生活和飲食方式的調整，就可以扭轉這一形勢。
'We must have behavior change,' Shin Young-soo, the World Health Organization's regional director for the Western Pacific, said during a recent health summit in Manila.
近期在馬尼拉舉行的健康峯會上，世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)西太平洋地區主任申英秀(Shin Young-soo)呼籲人們對生活習慣做出改變。As regional incomes improve, people have more money to spend on fast food and processed snacks. In recent years, demand for meat and dairy has also risen dramatically in many of Southeast Asia's emerging economies.
伴隨着地區收入狀況的改善，人們有更多的錢來購買快餐和加工食品。近年來，許多東南亞新興經濟體內對於肉製品和奶製品的需求也在急劇上升。But changes in diets combined with lack of exercise has made Asians more prone to diabetes than their counterparts in the West, said Dr. Shin, one of nearly 200 health and development experts attending a week-long gathering here aimed at discussing non-communicable diseases and finding way to combat them.
申英秀說，然而飲食的變化和缺乏運動結合在一起，使得亞洲人糖尿病的發病率高於西方。申英秀與近200位出席峯會的衛生和發展專家聚在一起，將對非傳染性疾病以及應對策略進行爲期一週的探討。Recent studies show that as much as 12% of Chinese adults have diabetes and half are prone to developing the disease. In South Korea, Japan and Vietnam around one in every 10 adults has diabetes.
近期研究表明，多達12%的中國成年人患有糖尿病，而一半的人口有患病風險。在韓國、日本和越南，大約每10個人就有一人是糖尿病患者。Half a century ago, non-communicable diseases weren't a priority among health experts, said WHO director-general Margaret Chan.
世界衛生組織(WHO)總幹事陳馮富珍(Margaret Chan)說，半個世紀前，非傳染性疾病還不是健康專家重點探討的話題。'Diets were rich in fruits and vegetables,' she said. 'Fish was the principal source of protein. People drank water.'
她說，當時人們的膳食中多蔬菜水果，魚是蛋白質的基本攝入來源。水是人們的飲品。Over a short period, however, diets have remarkably shifted to white bread, white rice, white sugar, sugary beverages, and highly processed foods, including canned luncheon meats. That, said Dr. Chan, has resulted in an increase in cases of diabetes and a 75% incidence of obesity -- the highest in the world -- in some Pacific island countries.
然而沒過多久，餐桌上瞬間變成了白麪包，白米飯，白糖，含糖飲料和午餐肉之類的精加工食品。陳馮富珍說，這一變化導致了糖尿病發病機率增加，並致使一些太平洋島國的肥胖症發病率達到了75%，爲全世界最高。The main factors that place people at risk of developing these life-style diseases include tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol -- all of which are avoidable. For now, however, doctors say the prevalence of these risk factors is high -- and rising in many places.
促使人們患上這類生活方式相關疾病的主要原因包括吸菸、飲食不健康、缺乏鍛鍊以及過度飲酒，而這些均可以避免。但醫生稱，現在這些不良習慣仍然盛行，在很多地方甚至愈演愈烈。The Asia-Pacific is home to about one-third of the world's smokers -- many of them concentrated in China and Indonesia, two of the world's biggest cigarette markets. Nearly 70% of men over the age of 15 smoke in Indonesia, according to the WHO, which says health care costs associated with tobacco-related illnesses ring in at around $1.7 billion each year.
亞太地區的吸菸人羣佔全世界的三分之一，多數集中在中國和印度尼西亞，兩國也是世界兩個最大的香菸市場。據世界衛生組織稱，印度尼西亞超過70%的15歲以上男性人口是菸民，這使得該國因吸菸相關疾病而產生的醫療費用高達每年17億美元。Meanwhile, in China, Dr. Chan said, researchers estimate that 114 million adults have diabetes -- while an additional 493 million people at risk of developing the disease.
陳馮富珍說，在中國，研究人員估計約1.14億中國人患有糖尿病，4.93億人面臨患病風險。'Think about what this means in the world's second largest economy,' she said.
她說，可以想一想這對於世界第二大經濟體來說意味着什麼。The could eventually bankrupt the health care system in China. For other countries whose economies are just beginning to take off, the burden of having to deal with an increasingly unhealthy population could derail development goals and scale back the benefits of economic gain. In the region as a whole, it means added pressure on health care systems that, in many places, are already over-stretched.
這可能會最終使得中國的醫療保險體系面臨崩潰。對於其它經濟剛開始起步的國家，與日俱增的不健康人口所造成的負擔，可能會使其經濟目標發生偏離，經濟成果的收益大打折扣。而對於整個地區來說，這意味着許多地方本已不堪重負的醫保系統將承受更大的壓力。The growing rate of diabetes, for example, has caused a rise in visual impairment, which can severely compromise educational opportunities, gainful employment and productivity, say health experts. By 2020 the global economic loss from visual impairment is expected to reach US$110 billion annually, up from US$42 billion in 2000.
衛生專家舉例說，不斷上升的糖尿病患病率已導致了視力缺陷症狀不斷增加，這會對教育、就業以及社會生產力造成嚴重影響。預計到2020年，全球每年因視力缺陷而導致的經濟損失將從2000年的420億美元上升到1,100億美元。
