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It's one of those annoying facts of life that the older you get, the more often you find that your body just doesn't work like it used to.
这是生活中令人烦恼的事实之一，年龄越大，你越经常发现你的身体不再像以前那样运作。
Case in point - I'm almost 40 years old, and for the past year or so, I find that just reading things has become more difficult.
举个例子：我快40岁了，在过去的一年左右，我发现阅读变得越来越困难。
Like, I find myself squinting to read an article on my computer or just, like, constantly enlarging the font. And I know that this is only going to get worse in the coming years.
我发现自己眯着眼睛阅读电脑上的文章，或者只是不断地放大字体。我知道这种情况在未来几年只会变得更糟。
And the fact of this would be personally and professionally devastating if the solution were not extremely easy and cheap to come by - reading glasses, right?
如果解决方案不是极其简单和便宜的老花镜，那么这种情况对个人和职业来说将是毁灭性的，对吧？
I can get reading glasses at any pharmacy or convenience store for just a few bucks. Online, I could get five pairs of reading glasses for a little more than a dollar a piece. And that's why I was super surprised to learn this statistic.
我可以在任何药店或便利店以几美元的价格买到老花镜。在网上，我可以以每副一美元多一点的价格买到五副老花镜。这就是为什么我非常惊讶地了解到这个统计数据。
According to a report by the Lancet Global Health Commission, the number of people who have unaddressed vision loss that could be solved with a simple pair of reading glasses is around 510 million.
根据《柳叶刀》全球健康委员会的一份报告，约有5.1亿人患有视力丧失，而只需一副简单的老花镜就能解决这一问题。
That is more than the populations of the U.S., Mexico and Canada combined. So if reading glasses are so available and cheap here in the U.S., why are so many people around the world living without them?
这比美国、墨西哥和加拿大的人口总和还要多。那么，如果老花镜在美国如此容易买到且价格低廉，为什么全世界有这么多人没有呢？
This is THE INDICATOR FROM PLANET MONEY. I'm Adrian Ma. And today on the show, we'll answer that question, and we'll learn the economic solution to this reading glasses shortage.
这里是THE INDICATOR FROM PLANET MONEY。我是Adrian Ma。今天在节目中，我们将回答这个问题，并了解解决老花镜短缺的经济方法。
Across large parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America, unaddressed vision loss is a really common problem. And it doesn't just affect individuals.
在亚洲、非洲和拉丁美洲的大部分地区，视力丧失问题一直未得到解决，这是一个非常普遍的问题。而且它不仅仅影响个人。
It affects economies 'cause think about it - almost any job you can name, whether it's in an office or a factory or on a farm, it requires having at least decent near vision.
它影响经济，因为想想看，几乎任何你能说出的工作，无论是在办公室、工厂还是农场，都需要至少有良好的近视力。
The data shows that there's $410 billion of economic loss annually due to vision impairment and lack of access to eyeglasses, which is pretty staggering.
数据显示，每年因视力障碍和无法获得眼镜而造成的经济损失高达4100亿美元，这一数字相当惊人。
Pelin Munis is CEO of RestoringVision. It's a nonprofit whose mission is to help address what it calls the global vision crisis.
Pelin Munis是RestoringVision的首席执行官。这是一家非营利组织，其使命是帮助解决所谓的全球视力危机。
And the main thing they're trying to tackle is helping people who are experiencing near-vision loss as they age. In medical terms, this is called presbyopia.
他们试图解决的主要问题是帮助那些随着年龄增长而出现近视丧失的人。在医学术语中，这被称为老花眼。
Presbyopia happens usually in your 40s. But in a lot of countries, it can happen as early as in your 30s. So just when you're in your prime working years, you're going through sight loss, and that has really long-term implications.
老花眼通常发生在40多岁。但在很多国家，早在30多岁就可能出现。就在你处于黄金工作年龄时，你就正在经历视力丧失，这会产生长期影响。
The problem is as people get older, they often are not aware that their vision is slowly getting worse. And even if they are, in many low and middle-income countries, there aren't enough eye doctors.
问题是，随着年龄的增长，人们往往没有意识到视力正在慢慢变差。即使他们意识到了，在许多低收入和中等收入国家，也没有足够的眼科医生。
And then on top of all that, Pelin says some people may not even realize that their vision can be fixed with something as simple as a pair of reading glasses.
除此之外，Pelin说，有些人甚至可能没有意识到，只要戴一副老花镜就能矫正视力。
Oftentimes, they don't know that glasses exist. In cases where they do know that glasses exist, oftentimes they're very expensive, and they're not within reach.
他们通常不知道有眼镜。即使知道有眼镜，眼镜也往往非常昂贵，而且买不起。
So it could take them more than a day travel, for example, to go to a location where there are glasses, but then those won't be affordable.
他们可能需要花一天以上的时间才能到达有眼镜的地方，但眼镜的价格却无法负担得起。
Think about the difference from here in the U.S., where reading glasses are super cheap, partly because they're also simpler to make than prescription eyewear.
想想美国的情况，这里的老花镜非常便宜，部分原因是它们比处方眼镜更容易制造。
Basically, they're just little magnifying glasses that you wear on your face. But in countries where the average person has a lot less wealth than the average American, reading glasses can actually cost a lot more.
基本上，它们只是戴在脸上的小放大镜。但在普通人财富远低于普通美国人的国家，老花镜的价格实际上要高得多。
Pelin says a few years ago, RestoringVision did a study in a part of Mexico's Zacatecas state.
Pelin说，几年前，RestoringVision在墨西哥萨卡特卡斯州的部分地区进行了一项研究。
And community leaders there told her that reading glasses cost around $20 U.S. And this is an area where the average salary is around 280 bucks a month.
那里的社区领导告诉她，老花镜的价格约为20美元。而这个地区的平均工资约为每月280美元。
And so, what is the root of the problem here? Pelin says it basically boils down to this. In many places, there isn't a demand for reading glasses. And also, there isn't a supply. In other words, there isn't a market.
问题的根源是什么？Pelin说，基本上可以归结为这个。在许多地方，老花镜没有需求，而且也没有供应。换句话说，没有市场。
Eyeglasses have existed for over 700 years. It's the access to them that's really the challenge.
眼镜已经存在了700多年。获得它们才是真正的挑战。
So the way that RestoringVision tries to take on this problem is by tackling the demand side of the equation first.
RestoringVision试图解决这个问题的方法是首先供求关系中的需求方。
They do that by working with local NGOs and governments in dozens of countries to try and get people screened for presbyopia.
他们与数十个国家的当地非政府组织和政府合作，试图让人们接受老花眼筛查。
You could work with a community health care worker. You could work with a primary health clinic.
您可以与社区卫生保健工作者合作。您可以与初级卫生诊所合作。
In Peru, we have a really innovative program where when somebody goes to pick up their pension check, they can have a vision screening and get a pair of reading glasses.
在秘鲁，我们有一个非常创新的项目，当有人去领取养老金时，他们可以进行视力检查并获得一副老花镜。
If they have other issues, they can get referred for more services. So a lot of the work we do, individuals will get their first pair of glasses at no cost to them, and this is where we start to see the markets.
如果他们有其他问题，他们可以被推荐获得更多服务。我们所做的很多工作都是让个人免费获得第一副眼镜，这就是我们开始看到市场的地方。
But the market isn't really working until there's supply to meet demand. You know, you have to increase the number of places that sell the product.
但是，只有当供应满足需求时，市场才会真正发挥作用。你必须增加销售该产品的地方数量。
The thing is, if you owned a little pharmacy or a shop and you never have customers coming in asking for reading glasses, you wouldn't bother to sell them. Or if you did, you would charge a lot of money for them.
问题是，如果你拥有一家小药店或商店，而你从来没有顾客来要求购买老花镜，你就不会费心去销售它们。如果你这样做了，你会收取高昂的费用。
So Pelin says they're working on building out those supply channels and even talked with employers about the benefits of providing reading glasses for their employees.
Pelin说，他们正在努力建立这些供应渠道，甚至与雇主讨论了为员工提供老花镜的好处。
By providing somebody with a pair of reading glasses in order for them to do their near-vision work for their employment purposes, you see productivity increases of up to 32%, which is pretty significant.
通过为某人提供一副老花镜，以便他们出于工作目的进行近视工作，你会看到生产率提高高达32%，这是相当可观的。
But Pelin says making these glasses accessible to people can be made more difficult by regulations. So for example, some countries have rules restricting the marketing of medical services.
但Pelin说，通过法规，让人们能够获得这些眼镜可能会变得更加困难。例如，一些国家有限制医疗服务营销的规则。
That might make it more difficult for a would-be retailer to put up a sign that says, hey, reading glasses sold here.
这可能会让潜在的零售商更难挂出一个标语，上面写着“嘿，这里卖老花镜”。
Other countries might import glasses from China but classify them as luxury goods that are subject to a tariff or import tax. And that makes it more expensive for any would-be customer to buy.
其他国家可能会从中国进口眼镜，但将它们归类为需要缴纳关税或进口税的奢侈品。这会让任何潜在客户的购买成本更高。
And then naturally, at some point, there would be a tipping point, and markets will start to develop. And that's really what we're hoping for.
然后自然而然地，在某个时候，就会出现一个转折点，市场就会开始发展。而这正是我们所希望的。
You're essentially, like, trying to jump-start a market that in a lot of countries doesn't really exist. Correct.
你实际上是在试图启动一个在很多国家实际上并不存在的市场。没错。
And the hope is eventually that market will become self-sustaining. So when people need their second, third or fourth pair, getting them won't be so difficult and expensive.
我们希望最终市场能够自我维持。这样当人们需要第二副、第三副或第四副眼镜时，获得它们就不会那么困难和昂贵了。
Now, if you're wondering what does this market creation process look like on the ground, you could look to Nigeria. That's where Dr. Oteri Okolo lives.
现在，如果你想知道这个市场创造过程在当地是什么样的，你可以看看尼日利亚。奥特里·奥科洛（Oteri Okolo）博士就住在那里。
I'm an ophthalmologist working at the Department of Public Health in Nigeria.
我是尼日利亚公共卫生部的眼科医生。
Oteri oversees this program aimed at getting people who are living in rural areas screened for vision problems, including presbyopia.
奥特里负责监督这个项目，旨在让生活在农村地区的人们接受视力问题（包括老花眼）的筛查。
And if needed, they give them a free or low-cost pair of reading glasses. She describes this process as demand generation.
如果需要，他们会配一副免费或低价的老花镜。她将这个过程描述为需求生成。
You can easily train just about anyone to be able to dispense the glasses, reading glasses, to the general population.
你可以很容易地培训几乎任何人，让他们能够向普通民众分发眼镜，老花镜。
You don't need, shall I say, sophisticated equipment or a sophisticated test that a trained eye care worker would have to carry out.
你不需要复杂的设备或经过培训的眼科护理人员进行的复杂测试。
So this program has been going on for about a year. And Oteri says at first the rollout hit an unexpected obstacle - the eye exams were taking a weirdly long time.
这个项目已经进行了大约一年。奥特里说，一开始，推广遇到了一个意想不到的障碍——眼科检查需要很长时间。
So the lines were building up, and people - the crowds, you know, are becoming uncontrollable.
排队的人越来越多，人群变得无法控制。
And when we investigated, we realized that the primary health care workers there were slow because they themselves couldn't quite see clearly.
当我们调查时，我们发现那里的初级卫生保健工作者很慢，因为他们自己看不清楚。
It turned out a lot of these health care workers could not see clearly because they themselves had presbyopia. They needed reading glasses, too.
事实证明，很多卫生保健工作者看不清楚是因为他们自己有老花眼。他们也需要老花镜。
And when they were able to get their spectacles, the queues just moved quicker. They were able to dispense those spectacles faster.
当他们能够拿到眼镜时，队伍就移动得更快了。他们能够更快地分发这些眼镜。
Oteri says this just goes to show how reading glasses don't just benefit older folks with vision issues but also younger folks who are in their prime working years.
奥特里说，这说明老花镜不仅对视力有问题的老年人有益，而且对处于黄金工作年龄的年轻人也有好处。
When her program reached out to those who received glasses, they met people like Karaleen.
当她的项目接触到那些戴上眼镜的人时，他们遇到了像Karaleen这样的人。
My name is Mrs. Karaleen Isaiah. I'm from Kogi State. Karaleen works as a seamstress.
我叫Karaleen Isaiah。我来自科吉州，是一名裁缝。
And these eyeglasses that I'm wearing I've seen enormous improvements because now I can see clearly.
戴上这副眼镜后，我感觉好多了，因为现在我可以看得很清楚了。
And I even came with my needle this morning because I was not able to face my thread through my needle, while this morning I was able to.
今天早上我甚至带着针来，因为之前我无法将线穿过针，而今天早上我可以。
We're talking about improving their earning, their potential, so they're ending more, and they're also improving their ability to thrive.
我们谈论的是提高他们的收入、潜力，这样他们就能早点配眼镜，也能提高自己的生存能力。
For Oteri and Pelin at RestoringVision, this is a health issue, a social issue and an economic issue rolled into one. And they say it's solvable.
对于RestoringVision的奥特里和Pelin来说，这是一个集健康问题、社会问题和经济问题于一体的问题。他们说这是可以解决的。
