Bahamas

Although the Bahamas ranks 52nd among world incomes ($20,200), social indicators do not always mirror this relative prosperity. Nevertheless, the government is committed to providing universal access to healthcare, and expenditures on health are generally higher than other countries in the Caribbean region. The government spends 6.4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on healthcare and assigns $1,220 (international dollars) per capita to total health expenditures. The 1999–2000 national budget allotted 14.8 percent of total expenses to healthcare. However, only 1.7 percent of those expenditures are targeted for social security. The private sector supplies 52.5 percent of total health expenditures, and 40.5 percent of private healthcare costs are out-of-pocket expenses. There are 1.05 physicians, 4.47 nurses, and 0.07 dentists per 1,000 population in the Bahamas.

The government has instituted a series of health-care reforms and is working to broaden the safety net for the most vulnerable members of the population. Reforms introduced in the Strategic Plan for 2000–2004 include HIV/AIDS education and care, expansion of maternal and perinatal care, family planning, elder care, disease control and prevention, and strengthened relationships with nongovernmental organizations. Data on health indicators are not always available for the Bahamas, and this makes overall analysis of Bahamian health difficult. Based on partial data, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Reports rank the Bahamas 52nd of 177 countries on general quality-of-life issues.

The tropical marine climate of this Caribbean island in the North Atlantic Ocean draws tourists from around the world, but particularly from the United States (80 percent). As a result, one-half of the Bahamian workforce is engaged in the tourism sector. [Page 209]The island has also become a mecca for international banking and investment. Education is compulsory up to the age of 14, and islanders are generally literate (95.6 percent), with females (96.5 percent) being slightly more literate than males (94.7 percent). Approximately 85 percent of the relevant population attend primary school. Enrollment in both primary and secondary schools has dropped in recent years. Tuition at the College of the Bahamas is fully subsidized by the government. The Bahamas has a poverty rate of just over 9 percent, and just over 10 percent of the labor force is unemployed. Seven percent of the population is undernourished.

Since the 1990s, the Caribbean islands have been beset by rising HIV/AIDS rates (3 percent in the Bahamas), leading to lower-than-normal life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, and slowing population growth rate. Chiefly as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, life expectancy in the Bahamas is only 65.6 years, with females outliving males an average of seven years. This ranking places the Bahamas 158th in life expectancy among 226 countries of the world. By 2003, 5,600 cases of HIV/AIDS had been reported, and the Bahamas had lost approximately 200 people to the disease.

Only 1 percent of births in the Bahamas occur outside the supervision of trained medical personnel, and the official maternal mortality rate is 60 deaths per 100,000 live births. The infant mortality rate is 24.68 deaths per 1,000 live births. Male infants (30.29) are especially vulnerable when compared to female infants (18.96). The Bahamas ranks 97th in infant mortality. Around 94 percent of infants are immunized against measles.

...