Montserrat Women Health Information

Namita Nayyar (WF Team)

13 years ago

Montserrat Women Health Information

– Reported, March 13, 2012

English and Irish colonists from St. Kitts first settled on Montserrat in 1632; the first African slaves arrived three decades later. The British and French fought for possession of the island for most of the 18th century, but it finally was confirmed as a British possession in 1783. The island’s sugar plantation economy was converted to small farm landholdings in the mid 19th century. Much of this island was devastated and two-thirds of the population fled abroad because of the eruption of the Soufriere Hills Volcano that began on 18 July 1995. Montserrat has endured volcanic activity since, with the last eruption occurring in July 2003.

The general health and welfare of Montserrat is good and was continuing to improve . They have adopted the goals of the Pan American Health Organization of good health for all , emphasizing preventive medical services and early maternal and child health care programs.

In the mid-1980s, mortality rate of Montserrat had the death rate, 6.78 deaths per 1000 inhabitants, Interestingly, thet infant mortality rate 21.6 per 1,000 live births.

Programs of inoculation against diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus had succeeded in reaching at least 90 percent of the population on all the islands; vaccinations against poliomyelitis and measles reached a minimum of 75 percent of the targeted population. Montserrat reached over 95 percent of their respective populations with the polio vaccine. The incidence of infectious diseases was very low for Montserrat; It had reported not any cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Although Britain supplied funds for health care budgets, administration and health care delivery were the responsibility of the local governments. Montserrat allocated approximately 13 percent of their annual budgets to health care and related services.

Montserrat’s health services were the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, Health, and Community Services; the permanent secretary in the ministry oversaw administration and was advised on technical matters by the chief medical officer. All community health services were free with the exception of certain laboratory tests. Montserrat was able to provide health care to all inhabitants by 1984. Major health problems were treated at the Glendon Hospital in Plymouth, which had sixty-seven beds, and community services were provided through a network of twelve district clinics. No village was farther than about three kilometers from a district clinic.

Sex ratio:
At birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
Under 15 years: 1.08 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.55 male(s)/female
Total population: 1 male(s)/female

Total fertility rate:1.27 children born per woman in Montserrat.The leading causes of death in 1998 were diseases of the circulatory system, diseases of the respiratory system, diseases of the nervous system, and malignant neoplasms. There were no deaths from communicable diseases, except for one in 1999 from AIDS, and no deaths occurred in the perinatal period.

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