Poverty & Social Development: A Caribbean Perspective

Report of the Caribbean Commission on Health and Development

The title says all about it, this is the last joint publication by the PAHO and the CARICOM.

Abstract from Executive Summary:

A healthy population is an essential prerequisite
for the economic growth and stability of the
Caribbean. This is a statement of reality that cannot
be repeated too often. The picture of the Caribbean
as an idyllic paradise is an appropriate one for
promoting the area to the outside world and one
that most nationals in the diaspora retain with
fondness and nostalgia. The physical attributes
often shown are real, but they sometimes hide the
struggle that many citizens must make to acquire
the necessities for a decent living against the
background of that reality. The Caribbean region
appears to be ‘developing’ when compared with
other regions, and the various countries can
legitimately pride themselves in how one or another
of their development indexes rank on some global
scale.