Find Health and Medical expertise in St Vincent and The Grenadines

The Ministry of Health, Wellness and Environment manages planning and policy issues for health care. There are around 40 health centres that facilitate the delivery of primary care. Secondary care is offered at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital in Kingstown and in the six other hospitals in the country. A new wing at Milton Cato, built with the help of funding from the World Pediatrics Partnership and the Mustique Charitable Trust, acts as a centre for paediatric surgery for St Vincent and the Grenadines and other nearby Caribbean nations. Serious medical problems often require air evacuation to the nearest large country with the necessary medical facilities.

The government imports pharmaceuticals through the Pool Procurement Service of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (PPS/OECS) enabling it to maximise the value of health care services to its citizens through the advantages of buying in bulk collectively, along with neighbouring countries.

In running with other Caribbean nations, St Vincent and the Grenadines is working towards the achievement of universal health coverage. Consequently, in 2014 the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment, in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), hosted a one-day consultation to develop a National Strategy for Universal Health Coverage.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for an estimated 77% of all mortality in St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2008. The most prevalent NCDs in St Vincent and the Grenadines are cardiovascular diseases, which accounted for 39% of total deaths across all age groups in 2008. Cancer, non-communicable variants of respiratory diseases and diabetes contributed 15%, 3% and 7% to total mortality, respectively (2008). Communicable diseases along with maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions in St Vincent and the Grenadines accounted for an estimated 15% of all mortality in 2008. A government paper on HIV/AIDS reported a cumulative incidence rate of HIV of 0.4% across all age groups by the end of 2006 since the advent of the disease. St Vincent and the Grenadines is a non-endemic country for malaria. There was an overall reduction in estimated incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in the period 1990–2012 and an overall rise in estimated mortality (when data excludes cases comorbid with HIV) from tuberculosis in the period 1990–2013, from 1 death per 100,000 to 2.8 deaths.

Government expenditure

Less than a fifth of health care in St Vincent and the Grenadines (18%) was paid for by patients or funded by other non-governmental entities – such as private insurers, charities or employers – in 2012. Total health expenditure constituted 5.2% of GDP in 2012, of which 82% (US$279 per capita) was covered by the government.

In 2013 government expenditure on health was 4% of GDP. In the most recent survey, conducted between 1997 and 2010, there were 75 doctors, and 379 nurses and midwives per 100,000 people. Additionally, in 2012 virtually all births (99%) were attended by qualified health staff and in 2013, 99% of one-year-olds were immunised with a dose of measles. In 2013, 95% of people had access to an improved water source.

St Vincent and the Grenadines was not an original signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, but acceded to it in 1981 and has written the covenant into law. It includes ‘the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’. The covenant commits signees to providing healthy and hygienic environmental conditions, controlling epidemic diseases, improving child health and facilitating access to health services without discrimination.