I’m headed back to India next week. Although I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years—doing everything from checking out toilets to visiting a village that’s home to the one poorest, most underserved castes in India—I haven’t been back since before the pandemic. I can’t wait to see how much progress has been made in that time.我下周要再次造访印度了。虽然这些年来我在那里度过了很多时间,也做了很多事——从检查厕所卫生条件到访问村庄,那里居住着印度最贫穷、最为弱势的低种姓群体——但我从新冠大流行前夕到现在一直没有回去过。我迫不及待地想看看这段时间取得了多少进展。
More than two decades ago, I set out to give the vast majority of my resources back to society. My goal from the beginning was to help reduce the awful inequities I saw around the world.二十多年前,我开始着手将自己的绝大部分资源回馈给社会。从一开始,我的目标就是帮助减少我在世界各地目睹到的严重的不平等现象。
When I started this work, my biggest focus was global health, because it’s the worst inequity in the world and it’s a solvable problem. That’s still the case today. But as time went on—and as the disastrous consequences of a warming world became more evident—it became clear that you can’t improve life for the world’s poorest without also tackling climate change.在我开始这项工作时,我最关注的就是全球健康,因为这是世界上最为严重的不平等问题,而且也是一个可以解决的问题。直到今天依然如此。但随着时间的推移——随着全球变暖所带来的灾难性后果愈发明显——很显然,如果不解决气候变化问题,就无法改善世界上最贫困人口的生活。
Climate change and global health are inextricably linked. Hotter temperatures will make poverty reduction harder by increasing food insecurity and the prevalence of infectious diseases and diverting resources away from those who need them the most. It’s a vicious cycle. The poorer a community is, the more vulnerable it is to climate change. And the more impacted a community is by extreme weather events, the more entrenched in poverty it becomes. To break the cycle, we need to make progress on both problems at the same time.气候变化与全球健康密不可分。气温升高将威胁粮食安全、导致传染病流行,并使得资源从最需要它的人手中流失,让减贫工作更加困难。这是一个恶性循环。一个社区越是贫穷,就越是容易受到气候变化的影响。而一个社区受到极端天气事件的影响越大,其贫困程度就越深。要打破这个循环,我们需要同时在这两个问题上取得进展。
When I talk to people about this, I often hear the same response: “There isn’t enough time or money to solve both at the same time.” But this idea that we can only tackle one thing at a time is just wrong. I’m stubborn in my belief that with the right innovations and delivery channels to get them to the vulnerable, we’re capable of making progress on lots of big problems at once—even at a time when the world faces multiple crises. There is no better proof than the remarkable progress that India has accomplished.我与别人谈论这个问题时,经常听到同样的回答:“没有足够的时间或金钱来同时解决这两个问题。”但这种认为一次只能解决一件事的想法是错误的。我坚信,只要有正确的创新和交付渠道,让弱势群体受益,我们就有能力同时在许多重大问题上取得进展——即使在世界面临多重危机的时候。没有什么比印度所取得的显著进展更能证明这一点。
Consider the field of next-generation chickpea plants currently growing at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, or IARI, in Pusa. Chickpeas are a staple crop in India. They provide an important source of income for many smallholder farmers, and families across the country rely on them for nutrition. But the chickpea harvest is threatened by climate change. Higher temperatures could reduce yields by as much as 70 percent, putting lives and livelihoods at risk.例如种植于普萨的印度农业研究所(IARI)的下一代鹰嘴豆植物田。鹰嘴豆是印度的一种主要作物,它们是许多小农户的重要收入来源,全国各地的家庭都依靠它们获得营养。但是鹰嘴豆的收成受到了气候变化的威胁。气温升高可能使其产量减少达70%之多,使人们的生命和生计面临风险。
So, the Gates Foundation joined hands with India’s public sector and CGIAR institutions to support the work of researchers at IARI. They found a new solution: chickpea varieties that have more than 10% higher yields and are more drought-resistant. One variety is already available to farmers, and others are currently in development at the institute. As a result, India is better prepared to keep feeding its people and supporting its farmers even in a warming world. It’s no exaggeration to say that India’s agricultural future is growing right now in a field in Pusa.因此,盖茨基金会与印度的公共部门以及国际农业研究磋商组织(CGIAR)下属的研究机构联手,支持IARI研究人员的工作。他们找到了一种新的解决方案:产量提高10%以上且更耐旱的鹰嘴豆品种。其中一个品种已经交付给农民,其他品种目前正在IARI进行研发。因此,即使在全球变暖的大背景下,印度还是做了更好的准备来继续给予国民以供养、提供农民以支持。毫不夸张地说,印度农业的未来现在就在普萨的一块田地里生长壮大。
One of the reasons why challenges like climate, hunger, and health seem insurmountable is that we don’t yet have all the tools to solve them. But I’m optimistic that one day soon we will, thanks in part to innovators like researchers at IARI.气候、饥饿和健康等挑战看似无法克服的原因之一,就是我们还没有解决这些问题所需的所有工具。但我乐观地认为,在不久的将来我们就能获得所需工具,这在一定程度上要归功于像IARI的研究人员这样的创新者。
India as a whole gives me hope for the future. It’s about to become the world’s most populous country—which means you can’t solve most problems there without solving them at scale. And yet, India has proven it can tackle big challenges. The country eradicated polio, lowered HIV transmission, reduced poverty, cut infant mortality, and increased access to sanitation and financial services.总体而言,印度让我对未来充满希望。该国即将成为世界上人口最多的国家——这意味着如果没有可规模化的解决方案,大多数问题就无从解决。然而,印度已经证明其能够应对重大挑战。该国根除了脊髓灰质炎,降低了艾滋病毒的传播,减少了贫困,降低了婴儿死亡率,并增加了获得卫生设施和金融服务的机会。
How did they do it? India has developed a world-leading approach to innovation that ensures solutions reach those who need them. When the rotavirus vaccine—which prevents the virus that causes many fatal cases of diarrhea—was too expensive to reach every child, India decided to make the vaccine themselves. They worked with experts and funders (including the Gates Foundation) to build factories and create large-scale delivery channels to distribute the vaccines. By 2021, 83 percent of 1-year-olds had been inoculated against rotavirus—and these low-cost vaccines are now being used in other countries around the world.他们是如何做到的?印度已经开发出一种世界领先的创新方法,确保解决方案能够惠及所有需要的人。当轮状病毒疫苗(用于预防导致许多致命腹泻的病毒)由于太过昂贵而无法惠及每个儿童时,印度决定自己生产疫苗。他们与专家和资助者(包括盖茨基金会)合作,建设工厂,并创建了大规模的交付渠道来分发疫苗。截至2021年,83%的1岁龄儿童已经接种了轮状病毒疫苗——这些低成本疫苗现在正在被世界其他国家所使用。
There is no question today’s challenges will test the limits of that ingenuity and cooperation. India is on the frontlines of climate change. But the progress it has made on health will make its people more resilient and provide helpful insights for how to tackle other major challenges. And the pace of its development, its skill in rolling out large-scale programs, and its people’s innovative expertise mean that India can be a key part of making progress on today’s biggest challenges.毫无疑问,今天的诸多挑战将考验这种独创性和合作的极限。印度正处于气候变化的前沿。但其在健康方面已取得的进展将会增加人民的韧性,并为应对其他重大挑战提供有益的洞察。印度的发展速度、大规模项目的推进能力以及其人民的创新性专长,意味着该国会为解决当今最大挑战的进程提供巨大助力。
I’m going to India next week to see firsthand the work being done by innovators and entrepreneurs. Some are working on breakthroughs that will help us mitigate the effects of climate change, like the work being done by Breakthrough Energy Fellow Vidyut Mohan and his team to turn waste into biofuels and fertilizers in remote agricultural communities. Others are finding new ways to help people adapt to a warmer world, such as IARI’s efforts to create more drought-tolerant crops. I’m looking forward to seeing the progress that’s already underway by both the Gates Foundation’s and Breakthrough Energy’s amazing partners.下周我将前往印度,亲眼见证创新者和企业家所做的工作。一些人正致力于取得突破,帮助我们减轻气候变化带来的影响,比如“突破能源”研究员维尤特·莫汉和他的团队正在做的工作,将废物转化为偏远农业社区的生物燃料和肥料。还有一些人正在寻找新方法来帮助人们适应气候变暖后的世界,比如IARI为培育更耐旱的作物所做的努力。我期待亲眼目睹盖茨基金会和“突破能源”的卓越合作伙伴现行的进展。
Like every other country on the planet, India has limited resources. But it has shown us how the world can still make progress in spite of that constraint. By collaborating and trying novel approaches, the public, private, and philanthropic sectors can turn limited resources into big pools of funding and knowledge that lead to progress. If we work together, I believe we can fight climate change and improve global health at the same time.和地球上其他国家一样,印度的资源有限。但该国向我们展示出,尽管存在这种条件的限制,世界仍能取得进展。通过合作和尝试新方法,公共、私营和慈善部门可以将有限的资源转化为庞大的资金和知识宝库,从而带来进步。如果我们共同努力,我相信我们可以在应对气候变化的同时,改善全球健康。