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Smart Development

الانقسام بين الشرق والغرب في السيطرة على كوفيد-19

Apr 8, 2020 Jeffrey D. Sachs

نيويورك ــ من الواضح أن دول شرق آسيا تتفوق في الأداء على الولايات المتحدة وأوروبا في السيطرة على جائحة مرض فيروس كورونا 2019 (كوفيد-19 COVID-19)، على الرغم من حقيقة مفادها أن الفاشية بدأت في الصين، التي ترتبط بها بقية دول شرق آسيا ارتباطا وثيقا عبر التجارة والسفر. يجب أن تتعلم الولايات المتحدة وأوروبا بأقصى سرعة ممكنة حول الأساليب التي انتهجتها دول شرق آسيا، والتي ربما لا تزال قادرة على إنقاذ أعداد هائلة من الأرواح في الغرب وبقية العالم.

لعل نقطة البداية المهمة للمقارنة هنا تكمن في عدد حالات الإصابة والوفيات المؤكدة بمرض فيروس كورونا 2019 لكل مليون نسمة، وهذا موضح في العمود الأول من الجدول المصاحب الذي يسجل أرقام السابع من إبريل/نيسان. يبدو الأمر كما لو أن كلا من المنطقتين تقع في عالَم مختلف عن عالم الأخرى. فالوباء يجتاح الآن أوروبا والولايات المتحدة: تتراوح الحالات المؤكدة لكل مليون من 814 (المملكة المتحدة) إلى 3036 (إسبانيا)، وتتراوح الوفيات لكل مليون من 24 إلى 300. أما في دول شرق آسيا، فتتراوح الحالات المؤكدة لكل مليون من 3 (فيتنام) إلى 253 (سنغافورة)، وتتراوح الوفيات لكل مليون من صِفر إلى أربع.

لا تقلل دول شرق آسيا بشكل منهجي من عدد الحالات المؤكدة أو الوفيات نسبة إلى نظيراتها الغربية. فكل من المنطقتين اختبرت نسبة مماثلة من سكانها، كما هو موضح في العمود الثالث من الجدول.

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Jeffrey D. Sachs

Writing for PS since 1995
354 Commentaries

Jeffrey D. Sachs, University Professor at Columbia University, is Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He has served as adviser to three UN Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General António Guterres. His books include The End of Poverty, Common Wealth, The Age of Sustainable Development, Building the New American Economy, A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism, and, most recently, The Ages of Globalization.

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 9 Comments on this article

Chen Jian Hui Jun 5, 2020

Evidence is mounting that COVID-19 has arisen from multiple origins. Without cooperation in a spirit of openness and sparing of blame, the pandemic will repeat itself to the detriment of the whole world, again.
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Peter Schaeffer Apr 13, 2020

The broad point is both clear and true. The nations of Asia have done better than the west in handling COVID-19. However, at least some countries in Europe have done a lot better than Sachs allow for. Take a look at the numbers for Greece (2145 cases, 99 deaths). New infections are declining rapidly. Spain and Italy also show a fast decline in new infections. So do a long list of other European countries.
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Madurai Padmanabhan Apr 13, 2020

This tendency to carry a NoT Invented Here (NIH) syndrome is not unknown to many who have experience in large MNCs.

Meditation, esoteric cultural experiences and limited culinary exposures from the East ( remember it was Far East) are living room conversations, however ideas & lessons in better life cannot be found beyond a certain longitude!

Legacies ( colonial) and dominant ‘superior’ narratives anchored by capitalist narcissism have contributed to this state of affairs.
It is time we realise, human ability, aspirations and opportunity are not GPS coordinated; societies and systems can flourish differently.

Ofcourse, dogma and ignorance can cloud.

But in the connected world of today knowledge can protect and enhance all of us. The flow multi-directional. Do we need a pandemic to bring home this truth?
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John Kornblum Apr 12, 2020

This is a foolish article The statistics from Asia with the excepton of Japan and Korea, cannot be trusted. And even if the numbers were trustworthy, comparing the West to Asian societies is not logical. Our goal is to protect both health and freedom. China, VietNam and others regulate society in a way which wold never work in the West.
- Hua Chai Jul 23, 2020
  
  Please tell those lost their lives to the COVID-19 that at least their freedom has been protected.
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- Jeremiah Pua Apr 21, 2020
  
  I agree, the West has put greater importance on freedom and wealth than society and safety.
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Petr Skokan Apr 12, 2020

I think this is too simplistic view - it ignores even European experience, where clearly Germany and surrounding countries (Denmark, Czech rep. , Poland, Austria etc)are so far going through pandemic way better than France,Spain,Italy or UK. I do not think we can learn much from eastern Asia- it is different culture not applucable to Europe amd USA and we will resist it till the end...
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Remi Chukwudi Okeke Apr 8, 2020

What else do the West, US, Europe, (their governments and peoples) need to learn from China and East Asia in this case, other than to be decisive and authoritarian (encourage / tolerate decisive and authoritarian tendencies), when these inclinations are needed in human affairs? Dead people do not enjoy freedom. They die.
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