Geographical Locations - Antigua

• (Statistical) Number of Inhabitants per Doctor: 1,333
• CIA - World Factbook : Antigua and Barbuda

Organisations and Networks

UN and Multinational

Government

• Ministry of Health, Sports and Youth Affairs

Non-Government

Academic Institutions

• American University of Antigua College of Medicine

National Policy and Related Documents

• Strategic Plan for the National Response to HIV/AIDS Antigua/Barbuda, 2002 - 2005
• The Public Health Act of Antigua and Barbuda (1955)

Reports, Guidelines, and Projects

• Health in the Americas 2007: Antigua and Barbuda
  As a health agency, the Pan American Health Organization’s core discipline is epidemiology, which enables the measurement, definition, and comparison of health problems and conditions and their distribution from the perspectives of population, geography, and time. This publication on Antigua and Barbuda addresses the issue of health as a human right, taking into account both the individual and community contexts, and examines various critical determinants of health, including those of a biological, social, cultural, economic, and political nature. That examination reveals the existence of gaps, disparities, and inequities that persist in Antigua and Barbuda, especially those related to access to basic services, health, nutrition, housing, and adequate living conditions as well as to the lack of opportunities for human development—all of which contribute to the greater vulnerability to diseases and health risks of some population groups. [Adapted from the preface of Health in the Americas 2007]
• Health Systems and Services Profile of Antigua and Barbuda
  This 2001 report of the Pan American Health Organization reports on such health-related issues as health system services and resources, and the leading causes of mortality.
• Living Conditions in Antigua and Barbuda: Poverty in a Services Economy in Transition
  "This study of living conditions in Antigua and Barbuda was conducted in the latter half of 2005 and first half of 2006 by Kairi Consultants Limited (Kairi) in collaboration with the National Assessment Team (NAT) of Antigua and Barbuda. The study was commissioned by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) with the support of other development partners – Department for International Development (DFID), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This poverty assessment study has three overall objectives, according the Terms of Reference (TOR). The first is to assess the current living conditions affecting the welfare of people of the country and to analyse the poverty situation, the processes that generate and maintain conditions conducive to poverty, existing responses to the poverty situation and the means available for effective actions to reduce poverty. The second is to identify the policies, strategies and action programmes that would reduce the extent and severity of poverty in Antigua and Barbuda, enhance social development and improve the overall quality of life in the country. The third is to develop recommendations and a programme of action which sets out strategic options for addressing critical issues emerging from the study, including recommendations to improve existing social development interventions, and the institutional and legal framework." [The Caribbean Development Bank, August 2007]
• Nutrition Country Profiles – Antigua and Barbuda
  Very little recent national information is available on anthropometric measurements for children in Antigua and Barbuda. The latest available figures show that the level of undernutrition (weight for age) among children less than one year old was 1.4% in 1995, a decrease from the 1993 level of 2.3%. For children 1-4 years old, the level remained almost constant, 0.6% - 0.8% over the period 1993-1995, while among the wider age group, 0-5 years, there was a decline of 0.3% between 1996 and 1999. The prevalence of overweight (weight for age) among children, less than one year old, was higher than that for underweight. It fluctuated during the period 1993-1995, increasing overall from 7.4% to 8.5%. Among children 1-4 years, there was a slight decline between 1993 and 1995 (from 2.8% to 2.5%). Between 1997 and 1998 the prevalence of overweight decreased among children 0-5 years from 6.6% t0 5.8 %. A 1993 Ministry of Health survey found that the national prevalence of obesity (BMI: > 30) was 4.6%. Among persons 40 years and over, 60% men and 25% women were obese. No recent anthropometric data were available on adolescents in Antigua and Barbuda. Iron deficiency anaemia is the most common micronutrient deficiency in Antigua and Barbuda. The prevalence, in 1996, among children 1-4 years was 49.4%, with the highest prevalence among children 2 years old. No data were available on the prevalence of anaemia among older children or for other population groups, including pregnant women. Given the common consumption of non-haeme foods (cereals, pulses, vegetables and fruits) coupled with the relatively low level of haeme-iron foods consumed by children in particular, the level of iron deficiency present may have dietary origins. The micronutrient study also showed that, although marginal levels of vitamin A deficiency exist, vitamin A deficiency is not a public health concern (1.1% of children 1-4 years were deficient)… The extent to which the nutritional problems facing the country can be attributed to the economic situation is not certain. The high per capita GNP relative to most other Caribbean countries may be resulting in increased spending per capita on food, and may be contributing to the level of obesity. No data are available on the level of poverty in the country, and hence the proportion of the population that is vulnerable to insufficient nutrient intake cannot be accurately determined. Those that are unemployed are likely to be at risk for undernutrition, especially the children in these households. [publication summary] [FAO, August, 2003]
• The spectrum of accidental childhood poisoning in the Caribbean
  Objective: To assess accidental poisoning in children in the Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda, including the incidence, the types of substances ingested, the age of the children involved, and the clinical outcomes. The results from Antigua and Barbuda were compared with the results of other reports from the English-speaking Caribbean and from the United States of America. Design and Methods: We performed a retrospective review of the charts of all patients less than 13 years old admitted to the Children’s Ward at Holberton Hospital in Antigua for accidental poisoning between March 1989 and March 1999. Those data were compared with data from earlier reports from Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and the United States of America. Results: In Antigua and Barbuda there were 255 hospital admissions for accidental poisoning among children below 13 years old over that 10-year period. Of the 255 ingestions, 115 of them (45%) were in 1-year-old children, 69 (27%) were in 2-year-old children, and 26 (10%) were in 3-year-old children. These proportions in Antigua and Barbuda are similar to the age patterns seen in the other countries with which we made comparisons. In Antigua and Barbuda there was an annual average of 26 hospital admissions for poisoning for the roughly 20 000 children below 13 years of age, for a rate of 1.3 per 1 000. In comparing the patterns of childhood poisoning in all the countries we studied, we found that, as economic levels rose, there was a shift in the substances ingested, with hydrocarbon and plant ingestions decreasing and chemical and medication ingestions increasing. Conclusions: There is an increasing variety and complexity of poisonous substances ingested as economic conditions improve. This trend would make the establishment of a poison control center for the English-speaking Caribbean a logical step. [author abstract] [Rev Panam Salud Publica/Pan Am J Public Health 12(5), 2002, pp.313-316]

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