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Caribbean Islands Health and Welfare
The general health and welfare of all three British
dependencies was good and was continuing to improve in the late
1980s. Each had adopted the goals of the Pan American Health
Organization of good health for all by the year 2000, emphasizing
preventive medical services and early maternal and child health
care programs.
In the mid-1980s, mortality rates varied among the British
dependencies. Montserrat had the highest death rate, 10.4 per 1,000
inhabitants, followed by Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands
with 7.1 and 5.4, respectively. Interestingly, the British Virgin
Islands had the highest infant mortality rate, 41 per 1,000 live
births, followed by Anguilla and Montserrat with 26.7 and 21.6,
respectively.
Programs of inoculation against diphtheria, pertussis, and
tetanus had succeeded in reaching at least 90 percent of the
population on all the islands; vaccinations against poliomyelitis
and measles reached a minimum of 75 percent of the targeted
population. Anguilla and Montserrat reached over 95 percent of
their respective populations with the polio vaccine. The incidence
of infectious diseases was very low for all three dependencies;
none had reported any cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome
as of May 1987.
Although Britain supplied funds for health care budgets,
administration and health care delivery were the responsibility of
the local governments. Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, and
Anguilla allocated approximately 13 percent, 11 percent, and 10
percent, respectively, of their annual budgets to health care and
related services.
Health care in the British Virgin Islands was the
responsibility of the minister of social services; administrative
and technical supervision rested with the chief medical officer.
The national health policy mandated free health services for the
entire population and was achieved through an infrastructure that
included the fifty-bed Peebles Hospital in Road Town and eight
district health centers. In 1984 the islands had a total of six
doctors, one dentist, and sixty nurses, midwives, and assistant
nurses. In addition, there were three doctors who maintained a
private practice and an eight-bed hospital.
Anguilla's health system was administered by the Ministry of
Health, which directed all medical facilities on the island. In
1984 there was no specified national health plan, and there was a
distinct lack of trained personnel. A twenty-four-bed hospital was
the primary medical facility and was supported by four district
health centers and a modern dental clinic; there were five
physicians on the island.
Montserrat's health services were the responsibility of the
Ministry of Education, Health, and Community Services; the
permanent secretary in the ministry oversaw administration and was
advised on technical matters by the chief medical officer. All
community health services were free with the exception of certain
laboratory tests. Montserrat was able to provide health care to all
inhabitants by 1984. Major health problems were treated at the
Glendon Hospital in Plymouth, which had sixty-seven beds, and
community services were provided through a network of twelve
district clinics. No village was farther than about three
kilometers from a district clinic.
Data as of November 1987
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