We’re here to help

我們是來幫忙的

Governments can help. Fully 181 countries have announced extra efforts to protect the poor, about 60% of which involve cash or food aid. For millions, these have proven a lifeline. Ganesh, an auto-rickshaw driver in Delhi, says he was lucky to spot an advert about a state government scheme to pay idle auto drivers a one-off 5,000 rupees (about $70). He texted in his ID and soon got the money. However, the vast majority of the cash in all these new welfare schemes is in rich countries. In the poorest ones, extra social spending announced so far amounts to just $1 per head—in total, not per day. Other drivers applied for help too, says Ganesh, but they have not received anything.

政府可以幫助。181個(gè)國(guó)家已經(jīng)宣布了額外的努力來保護(hù)窮人，其中大約60%涉及現(xiàn)金或糧食援助。對(duì)數(shù)百萬人來說，這些已經(jīng)被證明是一條生命線。德里的一名人力三輪車司機(jī)Ganesh說，他很幸運(yùn)地看到了一則廣告，廣告是關(guān)于一個(gè)邦政府向沒有工作的汽車司機(jī)一次性支付5000盧比(約70美元)的計(jì)劃。他發(fā)了個(gè)短信，很快就拿到了錢。然而，在所有這些新的福利計(jì)劃中，絕大部分資金都在富裕國(guó)家。在最貧窮的國(guó)家，迄今為止宣布的額外社會(huì)支出總計(jì)僅為每人1美元，而不是每天。Ganesh說，其他司機(jī)也申請(qǐng)了幫助，但他們沒有收到任何東西。

詞匯

Idle/閑置的；沒有工作的

Existing safety nets have long focused on rural folk, which used to make sense because they were the poorest. However, many of the newly poor are in cities. Systems need to adapt, but many are badly managed. India’s federal programme of cash and food handouts is scattershot and misses many of the neediest. In Uganda the government’s own spokesperson described its efforts to get aid to the right people as “inadequate, incompetent, disorganised.” Egypt has managed to get payments only to 2m of its 100m people.

現(xiàn)有的安全網(wǎng)長(zhǎng)期以來都把重點(diǎn)放在農(nóng)村居民身上，因?yàn)樗麄兪亲钬毟F的人，所以過去的做法是有道理的。然而，許多新貧困人口都在城市。系統(tǒng)需要跟進(jìn)，但許多系統(tǒng)管理不善。印度聯(lián)邦政府的現(xiàn)金和食品救濟(jì)計(jì)劃是散漫的，而且遺漏了許多最需要幫助的人。在烏干達(dá)，政府自己的發(fā)言人將其為正確的人提供援助的努力描述為“不充分、無能、無組織”?！鞍＜皟H向其1億人口中的200萬人支付了款項(xiàng)。

詞匯

Scattershot/漫無目標(biāo)的

In countries such as Kenya and Bangladesh mobile money is being used to distribute aid more quickly. But the poorest are often hard to reach. Governments often do not know who they are. And welfare systems were not designed with pandemics in mind. In South Africa delays have led people to form queues (not always socially distanced ones) outside post offices to sign up for benefits. In many countries corruption limits the effectiveness of welfare. In Zimbabwe aid has been steered to supporters of the ruling party. In Uganda MPs initially put themselves in charge of distributing $2.6m of relief cash in their constituencies (a court ruled they should pay it back).

在肯尼亞和孟加拉國(guó)等國(guó)，流動(dòng)資金正被用于更快地分發(fā)援助物資。但最窮的人往往很難得到。政府往往不知道自己是誰。福利制度的設(shè)計(jì)也沒有考慮到流行病。在南非，延誤導(dǎo)致人們?cè)卩]局外排隊(duì)(并非總是因?yàn)榉酪呖刂普疚痪嚯x限制)領(lǐng)取福利。在許多國(guó)家，腐敗限制了福利的有效性。在津巴布韋，援助已經(jīng)轉(zhuǎn)向執(zhí)政黨的支持者。在烏干達(dá)，議員們最初讓自己負(fù)責(zé)向選區(qū)分發(fā)260萬美元的救濟(jì)資金(法院裁定他們應(yīng)該償還這筆錢)。

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The biggest problem, though, is simply that governments in the poorest countries do not have much money. And they are getting poorer. The World Bank says that African government revenues will drop between 12% and 16% this year. In Nigeria, home to more extremely poor people than any other country, the collapse of the oil price has shredded government spending plans. During the global financial crisis many poor countries slashed spending on education; they may do so again.

然而，最大的問題僅僅是最貧窮國(guó)家的政府沒有多少錢。而且他們?cè)絹碓礁F。世界銀行稱，今年非洲政府收入將下降12%到16%。尼日利亞是世界上最貧困人口最多的國(guó)家，油價(jià)暴跌使政府的支出計(jì)劃支離破碎。在全球金融危機(jī)期間，許多貧窮國(guó)家削減了教育開支;他們可能會(huì)再次這樣做。

詞匯

Shred/撕碎

Slash/大幅度削減；大大降低

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He needs protection, too

他也需要保護(hù)

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All this has prompted calls to ease lockdowns. That will not save poor countries from being battered by the global economic crisis. Nor will all businesses reopen if people are still scared of being infected. But at least the poor would be able to try to work and children would be able to get vaccinations.

所有這些都促使人們呼吁放松封鎖。這并不能使貧窮國(guó)家免受全球經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)的打擊。如果人們?nèi)匀缓ε卤桓腥?，也不?huì)所有的企業(yè)都重新開業(yè)。但至少窮人可以努力工作，兒童可以接種疫苗。

Nigeria has already loosened lockdowns in some big cities, even as cases rise. Bangladesh and Pakistan have eased up, too. India will open up somewhat next month. This is not always popular—after two weeks shut in, 82% of Indians supported the first extension there. Ghana, one of the first in Africa to remove some restrictions, shows the risks. In one fish factory, 533 workers were recently infected.

尼日利亞已經(jīng)放松了一些大城市的封鎖，盡管病例在增加。孟加拉國(guó)和巴基斯坦也有所緩和。印度下個(gè)月將有所開放。這并不總是受歡迎的——在關(guān)閉兩周后，82%的印度人支持第一次延長(zhǎng)封鎖。加納是非洲第一個(gè)取消一些限制的國(guó)家之一，這顯示出了風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。在一家養(yǎng)魚廠，533名工人最近被感染。

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Lock down smarter

?更靈活的封鎖

However, the choice is not binary: total lockdown or no precautions at all. Governments and citizens can do a lot to prevent infections without freezing the whole economy. They can protect the elderly while letting most adults go to work and children go to school. They can keep nightclubs closed but allow markets, bus stations and factories to open—with compulsory masks, hand-washing and social distancing. They can do a better job of spotting outbreaks and quarantining the infected. They can teach people the facts about the disease, so they can protect themselves. Community health workers did this well during the Ebola crisis.

然而，選擇并不是二元的:完全封鎖或者根本沒有預(yù)防措施。在不凍結(jié)整個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)的前提下，政府和公民可以做很多事情來預(yù)防感染。他們可以保護(hù)老年人，同時(shí)讓大多數(shù)成年人去工作，讓孩子去上學(xué)。他們可以關(guān)閉夜總會(huì)，但允許市場(chǎng)、公交車站和工廠開放——強(qiáng)制要求戴口罩、洗手和保持社交距離。他們可以更好地發(fā)現(xiàn)疫情和隔離感染者。他們可以告訴人們關(guān)于疾病的事實(shí)，這樣他們就可以保護(hù)自己。在埃博拉危機(jī)期間，社區(qū)衛(wèi)生工作者在這方面做得很好。

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Whatever the approach, poor countries will need help from developed ones. Rich countries have spent a stunning $8trn on supporting their own citizens during the pandemic, notes Homi Kharas of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank. It is in their interest to help poor countries grapple with the disease—otherwise they will become a coronavirus reservoir that can reinfect the rich. Yet the international response has been “very go slow”, says Matthew Spencer of Oxfam, an NGO. So far the IMF and World Bank have lent about $20bn and $6bn respectively. Talks about debt relief are moving lethargically.

無論采取何種方式，貧窮國(guó)家都需要發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家的幫助。智庫(kù)布魯金斯學(xué)會(huì)的霍米?卡拉斯指出，在疫情期間，富裕國(guó)家在支持本國(guó)公民方面已經(jīng)花費(fèi)了驚人的8萬億美元。幫助窮國(guó)與疾病作斗爭(zhēng)符合他們的利益，否則他們將成為可再次感染富國(guó)的冠狀病毒蓄水池。然而，國(guó)際社會(huì)的反應(yīng)“非常緩慢”，非政府組織牛津饑荒救濟(jì)委員會(huì)的Matthew Spencer說。迄今為止，國(guó)際貨幣基金組織(IMF)和世界銀行(World Bank)分別發(fā)放了約200億美元和60億美元貸款。有關(guān)債務(wù)減免的談判進(jìn)展緩慢。

詞匯

Reservoir/水庫(kù)

Oxfam/牛津饑荒救濟(jì)委員會(huì)（Oxford Committee for Famine Relief）

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In the past, crises have sometimes fostered solidarity with the poor, notes Amartya Sen of Harvard University. In Britain during the 1940s life expectancy shot up by seven years, thanks to a wartime rationing system that ensured everyone had nourishing (if dull) food. According to a forthcoming UN Development Programme study between 2013 and 2016, despite an Ebola epidemic, living standards in Sierra Leone improved faster than in any of 70 poor countries. The huge effort to fight Ebola had spillover effects, as aid-workers and public servants also helped improve nutrition and child mortality. It would be wonderful if covid-19 could inspire similar efforts. But for now, the rich world is too distracted by its own problems to pay much heed to the poor.

哈佛大學(xué)(Harvard University)的 Amartya Sen指出，在過去，危機(jī)有時(shí)會(huì)促進(jìn)窮人的團(tuán)結(jié)。在20世紀(jì)40年代的英國(guó)，由于戰(zhàn)時(shí)的配給制度，確保每個(gè)人都能吃到有營(yíng)養(yǎng)的(或是干巴巴的)食物，預(yù)期壽命激增了7年。根據(jù)即將發(fā)布的2013年至2016年聯(lián)合國(guó)開發(fā)計(jì)劃署(UN Development Programme)的一項(xiàng)研究，盡管出現(xiàn)了埃博拉疫情，但塞拉利昂的生活水平提高的速度比70個(gè)貧窮國(guó)家中的任何一個(gè)都要快。抗擊埃博拉的巨大努力產(chǎn)生了溢出效應(yīng)，援助人員和公務(wù)員也幫助改善了營(yíng)養(yǎng)和兒童死亡率。如果新冠病毒能夠激發(fā)類似的努力，那就太好了。但就目前而言，發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家因自身問題而分心，無暇顧及貧困國(guó)家。