October 28, 2005

Anglicans attending the 105th session of Synod were informed about four major areas of concern in The Bahamas, including HIV/AIDS and Bahamian Haitian relations.

In his charge on Monday, October 17th at the opening of the week-long Synod of the Diocese of The Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands, Archbishop of the Province of the West Indies and Diocesan Bishop, His Grace Drexel Gomez said the Church must play an integral role in awareness building.

"If the Church is to serve credibly in this role of ‘awareness building,' the Church must ensure that she speaks from an informed position with a clear grasp of the issues," said the Archbishop.

The other two causes adverted to by the Archbishop were National Health Insurance and poverty in The Bahamas.

The Archbishop is urging immediate attention in the following areas:

• A nation-wide campaign on National Health Insurance to provide the general public with all the relevant information so that persons may respond in an informed manner.

• The involvement of all Anglican parishes in the national HIV/AIDS programme.

• The urgency for the government to address the Haitian migration problem. He cautioned against vigilantism. The act of citizens taking the law into their own hands, must never happen in our country. The law must be allowed to take its own course.

Church leaders becoming familiar with the contents of the government's Report of The Bahamas Living Condition Survey 2001 to enable them to gain a clearer perspective on the state of poverty in The Bahamas as they continue to minister to persons in need.

"While no one disputes the existence of poverty in our nation, there has existed a noticeable reluctance to determine the extent of poverty prevalent in our society,"said the primate.

He said he received a copy of the recent communication to Parliament by the Honourable Melanie Griffin, Minister of Social Services and Community Development on the Report of the Bahamas Living Conditions Survey 2001.

In her presentation, the Minister stated: "This report is a first for The Bahamas and provides information on household expenditure on food and non-food items, use of health facilities and social programmes and general characteristics of the population."

It is intended to provide a general picture of the conditions under which Bahamians live and in particular the aim was to produce a poverty line with which to estimate the proportion of the population or households unable to afford the basic necessities for living.

The national poverty rate for The Bahamas was determined to be 9.3 per cent. The rate is slightly lower in New Providence and Grand Bahama, but significantly higher in other regions with the highest found in the southern islands, 21 per cent. It should be noted, however, that 76 per cent of all poor people live in New Providence and Grand Bahama. It was also found that nearly 75 per cent of poor households have five or more members, 45 per cent of all poor households are headed by single female parents and that children 14 years and younger comprise 50 per cent of the nation's poor.

The Archbishop strongly recommend that all Church leaders become familiar with the contents of this report to enable them to gain a clearer perspective on the state of poverty in The Bahamas as they continue to minister to persons in need.

"Several of our churches are already actively involved in the Urban Renewal Programme launched by the Prime Minister in 2002, and I urge all our churches in New Providence and Grand Bahama to participate in meaningful outreaches to the poor and needy as we together seek to extend the safety net to provide meaningful assistance to those in need," he stated.

On the issue of HIV/AIDS, the primate reminded Synod that the church has supported the National Aids Programme over the past 20 years.

The Church assisted directly in the following: Prevention and Care and Support of persons living with HIV/AIDS According to Archbishop Gomez, the Church facilitated the creation of community-wide awareness and education of HIV/AIDS by providing its facilities to be used as venues. He said clergy workshops have been held and AIDS was addressed in Synod. Also, Church groups have organized seminars on HIV/AIDS and priests have addressed issues in their sermons.

"The Anglican Diocese was involved in care and support by organizing the support group known as SOP (Sharing Others Pain). This Support Group functioned for a number of years but is now defunct," said the Archbishop.

He emphasized that the Church is now being challenged to join with the National Aids Programme to:

• Scale up its prevention activities especially among the youth. Assist further in care and support of persons infected and affected by HIV/AIDS

• Assist in the plight of orphans of AIDS.

"I call upon Synod to accept those challenges and encourage all of our parishes to participate meaningfully in this national crisis," he stated.

The Archbishop informed Synod that at the Fifty-eighth World Health Assembly held in Geneva Switzerland May 2005, member countries were urged to:

• Ensure that health-financing systems include a method for prepayment of financial contributions for health care, with a view to sharing risk among the population and avoiding catastrophic health-care expenditure and impoverishment of individuals as a result of seeking care;

• Ensure adequate and equitable distribution of good-quality health care infrastructures and human resources for health so that the insurees will receive equitable and good-quality health services according to the benefits package;

• Ensure that external funds for specific health programme or activities are managed and organized in a way that contributions to the development of sustainable financing mechanisms for the health system as a whole.

World Health Organization (WHO) also noted that prepayment and pooling of resources and risks are basic principles of financial risk protection.

"The Blue Ribbon Commission," said the primate, "was appointed by the Prime Minister to look into the feasibility of a National Health Insurance Plan; one that would ensure that health care for all could be guaranteed, protected and free from financial burden at the time of use." The Blue Ribbon Commission reported and recommended Social or National Health Insurance as the most affordable and equitable way of financing health care based on the same principles as pronounced by WHO in May 2005.

A Steering Committee has been appointed to look into all matters related to the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme.

We call on the government to ensure that a national campaign is launched to provide the general public with all the relevant information so that persons may respond in an informed manner. We also call upon the leadership of the churches to assist in this awareness building process.

Focusing on Bahamian Haitian relations, the Archbishop said the longer this matter is left unaddressed, the worse it will become.

"The issue of the number of illegal immigrants in our country," he said, "especially those from Haiti, has been the topic of heated debates for many years." We commend the valiant efforts of our law enforcement offices in stemming this flow, even as we acknowledge the tremendous challenge that they face in doing so.

It must be said from the outset that the laws of The Bahamas must be upheld by all in our country visitors and citizens alike!

Having said that, all enforcement of the law has to consider the human factor and the rights and dignity of all concerned. Vigilantism, the act of citizens taking the law into their own hands, must never happen in our country. The law must be allowed to take its own course."

Archbishop Gomez is urging the government to move as expeditiously as possible to address the pressing issues related to the challenges of illegal migration, including shanty towns, which are often created in violation of our laws, as well as other unsanitary, inhumane conditions under which many live.

"Additionally, we respectfully request government to conduct a labour needs assessment to determine the number of non-Bahamians needed in the workforce at present and in the near future," he stated. "Persons who are needed, especially those ‘documented immigrants' who have been here for a long time, ought to have their status regularized and the others be made to leave. The longer this matter is left unaddressed, the worse it will become.

"We acknowledge with much gratitude the tremendous contribution that many of these Haitian nationals have made to this country, especially in areas where Bahamians have been unwilling to work.

"Finally, in this regard, I remind Synod and the Bahamian nation, that in everything we do, we must exercise the utmost of Christian charity in thought, word and deed, bearing in mind that we are all brothers and sisters regardless of our different national or ethnic backgrounds."

Anglican Communion News Service, London
Article from: The Voice by Clunis Devaney