Nurses play a vital role on the front lines of the novel coronavirus pandemic. But a shortage of these essential health care workers could pose challenges in countries dealing with a growing number of COVID-19 cases.
护理在抗击新冠肺炎疫情前哨发挥着及其重要的效果。可是这些至关重要的医护人员缺少给新冠肺炎病例日益增多的国家带来了应战。
“One of the lessons I hope the world learns from COVID-19 is that we must invest in nurses and midwives,” said World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a speech Tuesday in celebration of World Health Day, which recognized the vital work of nurses and midwives worldwide.
4月7日，世界卫生组织总干事谭德塞在留念世界卫生日的讲演中说：“我期望世界重新冠肺炎中学到的经验之一是咱们一定要加大对护理和助产士的投入。”本年世界卫生日的主题是必定全球的护理和助产士作业的重要性。
The WHO chief said nurses around the globe are providing care for critically ill and isolated COVID-19 patients, at the risk of their own lives.
谭德塞表明，全球各地的护理正冒着生命危险照顾被阻隔的新冠肺炎危重患者。
This is not the first time their importance has been highlighted in international emergencies. Nurses were also on the front lines of the Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and West Africa. In Liberia, they were the most affected by the outbreak among health care workers.
护理在世界危机事情中的重要性并不是第一次被凸显。埃博拉病毒爆发期间护理们也曾奋战在刚果民主共和国和西非的前哨。在利比里亚，护理是医护作业者傍边感染人数最多的集体。
WHO’s new “State of the World’s Nursing 2020” report has identified a global shortage of 5.9 million nurses. Many of those gaps are found in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and parts of Latin America.
世界卫生组织新发布的《2020全球护理情况陈述》指出，全球护理缺口达590万人。大部分缺口坐落非洲、东南亚、地中海东部和拉美部分区域。
Among regions of the world, the Americas have the highest density of nurses at 83.4 per 10,000 people, followed by Europe with 79.3 nurses per 10,000 people. In contrast, there are 8.7 nurses per 10,000 people in Africa, 15.6 nurses per 10,000 people in the Eastern Mediterranean region, 16.5 nurses per 10,000 people in Southeast Asia, and 36 nurses per 10,000 people in the Western Pacific.
按区域来区分，美洲的护理密度是最高的，每1万人中有83.4名护理，其次是欧洲，每1万人中有79.3名护理。相比之下，非洲每1万人中有8.7名护理，地中海东部区域每1万人中有15.6名护理，东南亚每1万人中有16.5名护理，西太平洋区域每1万人中有36名护理。
But there are stark differences within regions. In the Americas, for example, countries such as Brazil, Canada, Chile, and the US have a higher density of nurses at close to or over 100 per 10,000 people, distorting the regional average. Many of the neighboring countries in the region have less than 50 nurses per 10,000 people. In Haiti, there are only 3.8 nurses per 10,000 people.
可是区域内部也存在明显差异。举例而言，在美洲，巴西、加拿大、智利、美国等国家的护理密度更高，挨近或超越约每1万人100名护理的水平，导致该区域均匀值失真。该区域的许多邦邻每1万人中护理数量不到50名。在海地，每1万人中只要3.8名护理。
When broken down by country income, data in the report shows an unsurprising trend: The higher the income, the higher the nursing density. In low-income countries, the average density of nurses is 9.1 per 10,000 people, while the figure for high-income countries is 107.7 per 10,000 people.
假如按国家收入来剖析，陈述中多个方面数据显现的趋势并不让人意外：收入越高，护理密度越高。在低收入国家，均匀护理密度是每1万人中有9.1名护理，而在高收入国家，每1万人中有107.7名护理。
But training more nurses won’t solve the problem, said Dr. Giorgio Cometto, WHO coordinator on human resources for health policies and standards.
不过，世界卫生组织健康方针与规范人力资源协调员乔治·科梅托博士说，训练更多的护理并不能处理这样的一个问题。
“If the country lacks the economic capacity to employ them or to create economic opportunities for them to work as nurses ... training more nurses can just go into the direction of exacerbating labor market imbalances, resulting in unemployment among nurses. And that's a huge wastage of human capital as well as financial resources,” Cometto said.
科梅托说：“假如一个国家缺少雇佣护理或为护理发明就业机会的经济能力……训练更多的护理只会加剧劳动力商场的不平衡，导致护理赋闲。这是对人力资本和经济资源的极大糟蹋。”
The key is balancing training with the creation of employment opportunities in rural areas where there are known health worker shortages.
关键在于平衡训练与在医护人员缺少的村庄区域发明就业机会之间的联系。
That may be easier said than done, especially among countries that are suffering from chronic or complex emergencies, in active conflict, or struggling in the wake of conflict. But in these settings, the international aid community can align its assistance with national priorities and covering recurrent costs, such as salaries, within a specified period of time, Cometto said.
科梅托说，这可能是说起来简单做起来难，尤其是在遭受长时间或杂乱危机、正处于战乱中或处于战后恢复期的国家。但在这样的一种情况下，世界拯救集体可以精确的经过国家优先级提供援助和承当经常性费用，比如在特定时间内付出薪酬。
