Good news and bad news

We observed two interesting stories this week in the news regarding our Bahamas.

In one, aneki.com released a report listing the Caribbean’s richest countries. In this summary report that estimates the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita for individual countries, the Bahamas was listed at the top, the “richest” of all countries in the Caribbean region. With a GDP per capita of $21,300, the Bahamas ranked above Trinidad & Tobago ($19,700), Barbados ($18,200), and Antigua & Barbuda ($10,900). Lowest on the top ten scale was Grenada, at $3,900.

We can boast about this, claiming our title as the most affluent of all our neighbourhood. But before our head swells too much, consider that of all the countries in the world, Austria ranks at number 10 with a GDP per capita of $35,500, which is 67 per cent higher than the Bahamas; Luxembourg sits atop the global list with a GDP per capita of $68,800–nearly 325 per cent higher than the Bahamas. Still, given our size and rather limited economic sources, the Bahamas stands well in the world.

Our Bahamas has been recognised in another way recently, as having the highest rate per capita of HIV/AIDS cases in the Caribbean region. This is not as much of a braggadocios point, and one that we can attribute to many factors, including family dissolution, promiscuity and our proclivity to sweethearting. Our deputy prime minister, Brent Symonette, spoke this week at the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations and acknowledged that the impact of HIV/AIDS on our society is one that is among our chief social concerns. It not only devastatingly impacts the health and lives of its victims, but it drains health resources, impacts children and schools, among other things.

Are these two facts related? We wonder.

~ejr~