Barbados

The Caribbean island of Barbados is the 60th-richest nation in the world, with a per capita income of $17,300. This relative prosperity is mirrored in the general good health among the 279,912 islanders. Barbadians consider healthcare a basic human right, and healthcare is free. Government institutions provide essential drugs at no cost, and children and the elderly receive some medications free at pharmacies participating in the Barbados Drug Formulary. The government spends 6.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on healthcare and allots $1,050 (international dollars) per capita to defray health costs, providing 69.4 percent of all health expenditures. Private expenditures amount to 30.6 percent of total spending, and 77.20 percent of all private costs are out of pocket. There are 1.21 physicians, 3.70 nurses, and 0.24 dentists per 1,000 population in Barbados.

Literacy on the island is high at 99.7 percent. Primary school enrollment is reported at 100 percent and secondary school enrollment at 90 percent. Barbados is [Page 212]highly dependent on the tourist industry, and most of the visitors to the island come from the United States. Consequently, the island's economy declined in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, when scores of Americans refused to travel. Unemployment in Barbados hovers at just under 11 percent. The unofficial poverty rate is 8 percent. Most of those who live below the poverty line are single mothers and their dependent children. One hundred percent of Barbadians have access to safe drinking water, and 99 percent have access to improved sanitation. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Development Reports rank Barbados 31st of 177 countries on general quality-of-life issues.

Barbadians have a life expectancy of 72.79 years, with females outliving males by about four years. The current fertility rate is 1.65 children per female. Around 55 percent of females use some method of birth control. At least 98 percent of all births are attended by skilled medical personnel, and 89 percent of women receive prenatal care. The adjusted maternal mortality rate is 95 deaths per 100,000 live births.

An infant mortality rate of 11.77 deaths per 1,000 live births places Barbados 149th among 225 nations of the world on this important health indicator. Infant mortality has steadily declined in Barbados, as has under-5 mortality, which fell from 16 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 12 per 1,000 live births in 2004. Infant mortality dropped from 14 to 10 in that same period. Ten percent of all infants are underweight at birth, and 6 percent of under-5s are moderately underweight. Only 1 percent of Barbadian children are severely underweight. Five percent of under-5s suffer from wasting disease, and 7 percent experience moderate to severe growth stunting.

The government subsidizes 94 percent of required vaccines. As a result, 97 percent of infants receive vaccinations against diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT1); and 93 percent are immunized against DPT3, hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type B. Only 2 percent of island children fail to receive measles vaccinations.

In the 1990s the HIV/AIDS epidemic reached the English-speaking nations of the Caribbean, including Barbados, which has a 1.5 percent adult infection rate. By 2003, 2,500 cases of HIV/AIDS had been reported, and 200 people had died from the disease or related complications. As a result, the government has launched a massive HIV/AIDS awareness program. Barbados is also susceptible to lifestyle and environmental health conditions as well as to communicable diseases and life-threatening accidents.

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