From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。

A recent study questions whether placing attention on economic growth is the best way to improve child nutrition in low- and middle-income countries.
一项最新的研究质疑，把注意力放在经济增长上是否是改善中低收入国家儿童营养的最佳途径。

Subu Subramanian is a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts. He says there is a common belief on the best way to improve child health in developing countries. He puts it this way: "Let's just go after economic growth and then everything else will just follow."
苏布·萨勃拉曼尼亚（Subu Subramanian）是马萨诸塞州哈佛大学公共卫生学院的一位教授。他说全球对改善发展中国家儿童健康的最佳方式有一个共同的信念。他是这样总结这一理念的：“先追求经济增长，其它一切都会随之而来。”

But he says that is not always true. Take India for example, a common measure of a country's economic heath is gross domestic product (GDP). India's GDP has been growing by more than five percent a year, that is a higher growth rate than most Western countries.
但他表示事实并非总是如此。以印度为例，衡量一个国家经济健康的常用指标是国民生产总值（简称GDP），印度的国民生产总值一直以每年5%以上的速度增长，超出了大多数西方国家。

Yet more than two-fifths of India's children are underweight. And Subu Subramanian says, the percentage of underweight children has changed little since the the early 1990s. He and other researchers asked a question, "was economic growth failing to reach children in countries other than India?"
然而超过2/5的印度儿童体重过轻。萨勃拉曼尼亚表示，体重过轻儿童的比例自上世纪90年代初起就几乎没有变过。他和其他研究人员提出了一个问题，“除印度之外的其它国家的经济增长是否也未能惠及儿童？”

They looked at health surveys carried out since 1990 in 36 low- and middle-income countries, mostly South of Africa's Sahara Desert. The researchers compared the effect of GDP growth and signs of child malnutrition - like stunted growth and being underweight. But the researchers found only a small relationship or correlation.
他们查阅了自1990年以来，在36个中低收入国家进行的健康调查，这些国家主要位于撒哈拉以南非洲。研究人员比较了国民生产总值增长的影响和儿童营养不良的迹象，像发育不良和体重过轻。但研究人员发现两者之间关联很小。

"practically zero to very, very small," said Subramanian.
萨勃拉曼尼亚说，“（两者之间的关联）近乎为零。”

The group reported their findings in the journal Lancet Global Health. Subu Subramanian says money should be spent on clear water and waste-treatment system, childhood immunization campaigns and other programs.
该小组将他们的研究结果发表在《柳叶刀全球健康》杂志上。萨勃拉曼尼亚说，应该把资金投入到清洁水和废物处理系统、儿童免疫运动及其它项目。

"Without these directing investments, what we are seeing is [that] economic growth by itself is not making much impact," said Subramanian.
萨勃拉曼尼亚说：“如果没有这些直接投资，我们就能看到经济增长自身并未造成很大影响。”

But that is not how Lawrence Haddad sees the issue. He is head of the Institute of Development Studies in Britain. Lawrence Haddad says malnutrition has dropped sharply over the past 20 years in countries like Vietnam, Ghana or Brazil. He says economic growth was responsible for half of those declines.
但劳伦斯·哈达德（Lawrence Haddad）并不这么认为。他是英国发展研究所所长。哈达德表示，过去20年越南、加纳和巴西等国家的营养不良率已显著下降。他说，经济增长占据了一半功劳。

"The other half is attributable to strategic investments in water, sanitation, health systems, nutrition programs," said Haddad.
哈达德说，“另一半下降可归功于在水、卫生设施、卫生体系和营养项目上的战略投资。”

He says it takes both GDP growth and the right investments to improve child nutrition.
他说，改善儿童营养需要国民生产总值增长和正确投资的共同作用。