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 dealing¹ with a growing number of COVID-19 cases.

护士在抗击新冠肺炎疫情前线发挥着重要作用。但是这些至关重要的医护人员短缺给新冠肺炎病例日益增多的国家带来了挑战。

"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纪念世界卫生日的演讲中说：“我希望世界从新冠肺炎中学到的教训之一是我们必须加大对护士和助产士的投入。”今年世界卫生日的主题是肯定全球的护士和助产士工作的重要性。

The WHO chief said nurses around the globe are providing care for critically ill and isolated² COVID-19 patients, at the risk of their own lives.

谭德塞表示，全球各地的护士正冒着生命危险照料被隔离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 affected³ by the outbreak among health care workers.

护士在国际危机事件中的重要性并不是第一次被凸显。埃博拉病毒暴发期间护士们也曾奋战在刚果民主共和国和西非的前线。在利比里亚，护士是医护工作者当中感染人数最多的群体。

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 Mediterranean⁴, and parts of Latin America.

世界卫生组织新发布的《2020全球护理状况报告》指出，全球护士缺口达590万人。大部分缺口位于非洲、东南亚、地中海东部和拉美部分地区。

Among regions of the world, the Americas have the highest density⁵ 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.

按区域来划分，美洲的护士密度是最高的，每1万人中有83.4名护士，其次是欧洲，每1万人中有79.3名护士。相比之下，非洲每1万人中有8.7名护士，地中海东部地区每1万人中有15.6名护士，东南亚每1万人中有16.5名护士，西太平洋地区每1万人中有36名护士。

But there are stark⁶ 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.

但是地区内部也存在显著差异。举例而言，在美洲，巴西、加拿大、智利、美国等国家的护士密度更高，接近或超过约每1万人100名护士的水平，导致该地区平均值失真。该地区的许多邻国每1万人中护士数量不到50名。在海地，每1万人中只有3.8名护士。

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.

如果按国家收入来分析，报告中数据显示的趋势并不让人意外：收入越高，护士密度越高。在低收入国家，平均护士密度是每1万人中有9.1名护士，而在高收入国家，每1万人中有107.7名护士。

But training more nurses won't solve the problem, said Dr. Giorgio Cometto, WHO coordinator⁷ on human resources for health policies and standards.

不过，世界卫生组织健康政策与标准人力资源协调员乔治·科梅托博士说，培训更多的护士并不能解决这个问题。

"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 exacerbating⁸ 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：“如果一个国家缺乏雇佣护士或为护士创造就业机会的经济能力……培训更多的护士只会加重劳动力市场的不平衡，导致护士失业。这是对人力资本和经济资源的极大浪费。”

The key is balancing training with the creation of employment opportunities in rural areas where there are known health worker shortages.

关键在于平衡培训与在医护人员缺乏的乡村地区创造就业机会之间的关系。

That may be easier said than done, especially among countries that are suffering from chronic⁹ or complex emergencies, in active conflict, or struggling in the wake of conflict. But in these settings, the international aid community can align¹⁰ its assistance with national priorities and covering recurrent costs, such as salaries, within a specified¹¹ period of time, Cometto said.

科梅托说，这可能是说起来容易做起来难，尤其是在遭受长期或复杂危机、正处于战乱中或处于战后恢复期的国家。但在这种情况下，国际援救团体可以根据国家优先级提供援助和承担经常性费用，比如在特定时间内支付工资。