Geographical Locations - Dominica

• (Statistical) Number of Inhabitants per Doctor: 1,947
• CIA - World Factbook : Dominica

Organisations and Networks

UN and Multinational

• WHO
  -WHO country profile - Dominica
  - PAHO - Pan American Health organisation / Organización Panamericana de la Salud
  - Regional Office for the Americas / Pan American Health Organization (AMRO / PAHO) in Washington, D.C. (USA)
  - WHO - Tobacco control: Country Profile - Dominica
  - WHO - Environmental Burden of Disease: Country Profile – Dominica

Government

Non-Government

Academic Institutions

National Policy and Related Documents

Reports, Guidelines, and Projects

• Attitudes towards mental illness in the Commonwealth of Dominica
  Little is known about the perception of mental illness in the English-speaking Caribbean. This study was conducted in 1995 to determine the attitudes, knowledge, and help-seeking practices for emotional disorders in the Commonwealth of Dominica. Two groups in Dominica were surveyed: 67 community leaders, consisting of nurses, teachers, and police officers; and 135 community members grouped into five socioeconomic strata that were collapsed to three for the analysis. All the respondents were asked to identify and suggest management of individuals with psychosis, alcoholism, depression, and childhood hyperactivity, as depicted in case vignettes. The person in the psychosis vignette was diagnosed as suffering from mental illness by 84.0% of the leaders and by 71.2% of the community members. However, in each of the three other vignettes, fewer than 30% of the respondents thought that mental illness was present. The person with alcoholism was viewed as having a serious problem by only slightly more than half of the respondents. Fewer than half of the respondents thought that the individuals with depression or hyperactivity had serious problems. The community leaders did somewhat worse in recognizing mental illness than did the community members. Respondents were most likely to refer a family member with emotional problems to a medical practitioner. In conclusion, education about mental health problems is needed in Dominica. Especially disconcerting was the lack of knowledge on mental illness among nurses, teachers, and police officers, that is, professionals directly involved in the pathway to care. [author abstract] [Rev Panam Salud Publica/Pan Am J Public Health 7(3), 148-154, 2000]
• Dominica: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper: Medium-Term Growth and Social Protection Strategy (GSPS)
  "The Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica (GOCD) Growth and Social Protection Strategy (GSPS) articulates a medium-term strategy for growth and poverty reduction over the next five years. Priorities set in this document make poverty reduction the direct focus of the Government’s economic and social policy. GOCD regards the pursuit of sustained strong economic growth to be the main strategy to alleviate poverty. The GSPS provides the framework that informs the medium-term macro-economic framework, the structural reform agenda, the medium-term public investment programme, and the annual budgets to be presented to Parliament. The Government’s policies and programmes will seek to ensure that opportunities are available to all, and benefits from growth are shared across the society as widely as possible. To this end, targeting and management of the existing social programmes will also be improved." [International Monetary Fund, IMF Country Report No. 06/289, August 2006]
• Health in the Americas 2007: Dominica
  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 Dominica 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 Dominica, 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]
• Narrative Report: UNGASS 2010
  "The Commonwealth of Dominica reported its first case of HIV and AIDS in 1987. At the end of 2009 the cumulative figure stands at 350 reported cases. Over the past twenty years the country has maintained the trend of a concentrated epidemic with an estimated prevalence rate of 0.75%. The male to female ratio of new infections annually which was predominantly male is reducing. This is an indication that the epidemic could be becoming generalised. With 70% of those infected being male, this ratio is consistent with an epidemic being predominantly driven by high risk groups of men who have sex with men. The 25-44 age groups which are considered to be the most productive population are most affected. The Health Information Unit (HIU) has recorded a cumulative number of 77 certified HIV-related deaths from 1997-2009. Information from the Health Information unit indicates that there has been a decrease in the HIV-related mortality rate since 2005 as compared to previous years. This decline is almost certainly attributable to the scale up of HIV treatment and care in Dominica including the availability of free health care services, the increase in campaigns and access to antiretroviral treatment for persons living with HIV and AIDS, and the increase in campaigns encouraging persons to get tested for HIV." [The Commonwealth of Dominica, 2010]
• Nutrition Country Profiles – Dominica
  "Despite the fact that 27.0% of the Dominican households live below the poverty line (based on the latest available figures), undernutrition is not as great a problem as is overweight. The poor and the unemployed are, however, still at risk for inadequate dietary intake, although the high level of poverty does not manifest itself in the expected levels of undernutrition." [FAO, August, 2003]
• WHO-AIMS Report on Mental Health System in the Commonwealth of Dominica
  "The World Health Organization’s Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS) was used to collect information and format the report on the mental health system in Dominica. The overall goal of this process is to provide an objective assessment of the system on 6 domains: policy and legislative framework; mental health services; mental health in primary health care; human resources; public education and links with other sectors; and monitoring and research. This assessment should provide momentum to initiatives to reform mental health services in Dominica. There is no mental health policy or mental health plan. The Mental Health Act was legislated in 1987. In 2007, national expenditure on mental health was estimated at 3% of the total national health budget and this proportion is allocated to the Psychiatric Unit. An undetermined amount of additional resources contribute to the operation of the Unit but this is subsumed in the budget for the Princess Margaret Hospital. No data were available to estimate the extent of use of private mental health service providers and out-of-pocket spending on these services. One hundred percent of the population has free access to at least one psychotropic medication of each therapeutic category (antipsychotics, anti-depressants, anxiolytics, mood stabilizers, and anti-epileptic drugs). These drugs are widely available in Dominica. Health regulations allow primary health care physicians and Family Nurse Practitioners to prescribe and/or continue use of psychotropic medicines. Family Nurses Practitioners are allowed to continue use of these medications." [WHO and Ministry of Health, The Commonwealth of Dominica, 2009]

Educational Resources

• Association of Caribbean States, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
• CDC - Travel Information : Caribbean
• Library of Congress, Country Study: Caribbean Islands