走向富裕的亚洲人健康问题日益严重

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.

伴随着东南亚地区经济一同增长的，还有人们的腰围――医生和卫生专家担心，一系列新的健康问题可能会对许多发展中国家造成负担。

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.

在印度尼西亚、菲律宾和越南等地，快速增长的经济催生了不断壮大的新兴中产阶级。而据医生称，全新的小康生活也促使高血压、癌症、糖尿病、慢性呼吸道疾病等“生活方式疾病”的发病率上升。

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.

亚洲的因病死亡人口中，这些疾病加一起占了全部死亡原因的80%，但卫生专家称，通过日常生活和饮食方式的调整，就可以扭转这一形势。

'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.

近期在马尼拉举行的健康峰会上，世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)西太平洋地区主任申英秀(Shin Young-soo)呼吁人们对生活习惯做出改变。

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.

伴随着地区收入状况的改善，人们有更多的钱来购买快餐和加工食品。近年来，许多东南亚新兴经济体内对于肉制品和奶制品的需求也在急剧上升。

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.

申英秀说，然而饮食的变化和缺乏运动结合在一起，使得亚洲人糖尿病的发病率高于西方。申英秀与近200位出席峰会的卫生和发展专家聚在一起，将对非传染性疾病以及应对策略进行为期一周的探讨。

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，多达12%的中国成年人患有糖尿病，而一半的人口有患病风险。在韩国、日本和越南，大约每10个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.

世界卫生组织(WHO)总干事陈冯富珍(Margaret Chan)说，半个世纪前，非传染性疾病还不是健康专家重点探讨的话题。

'Diets were rich in fruits and vegetables,' she said. 'Fish was the principal source of protein. People drank water.'

她说，当时人们的膳食中多蔬菜水果，鱼是蛋白质的基本摄入来源。水是人们的饮品。

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.

然而没过多久，餐桌上瞬间变成了白面包，白米饭，白糖，含糖饮料和午餐肉之类的精加工食品。陈冯富珍说，这一变化导致了糖尿病发病几率增加，并致使一些太平洋岛国的肥胖症发病率达到了75%，为全世界最高。

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.

促使人们患上这类生活方式相关疾病的主要原因包括吸烟、饮食不健康、缺乏锻炼以及过度饮酒，而这些均可以避免。但医生称，现在这些不良习惯仍然盛行，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.

亚太地区的吸烟人群占全世界的三分之一，多数集中在中国和印度尼西亚，两国也是世界两个最大的香烟市场。据世界卫生组织称，印度尼西亚超过70%的15岁以上男性人口是烟民，这使得该国因吸烟相关疾病而产生的医疗费用高达每年17亿美元。

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.

陈冯富珍说，在中国，研究人员估计约1.14亿中国人患有糖尿病，4.93亿人面临患病风险。

'Think about what this means in the world's second largest economy,' she said.

她说，可以想一想这对于世界第二大经济体来说意味着什么。

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.

这可能会最终使得中国的医疗保险体系面临崩溃。对于其它经济刚开始起步的国家，与日俱增的不健康人口所造成的负担，可能会使其经济目标发生偏离，经济成果的收益大打折扣。而对于整个地区来说，这意味着许多地方本已不堪重负的医保系统将承受更大的压力。

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.

卫生专家举例说，不断上升的糖尿病患病率已导致了视力缺陷症状不断增加，这会对教育、就业以及社会生产力造成严重影响。预计到2020年，全球每年因视力缺陷而导致的经济损失将从2000年的420亿美元上升到1,100亿美元。