British Virgin Islands British Virgin Islands
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Population

Socioeconomic context

Health Situation

Access to health services

Health personnel



Population

The total population of British Virgin Islands in 2005 is estimated at 23,000, of which 65.4% live in urban areas. [1] Women represent 47.8% of the total population. [2] It is estimated that 6,587 women were 15 to 49 years old in the year 2004, that is, around 61% of the total number of women. [3]

According to demographic estimates and projections, since 1995 there has been a decreasing trend in the annual rate of growth of the population (Figure 1).



Figure 1.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base. http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/, 14 March 2006.

The most recent year for which mortality data from British Virgin Islands are available by sex, age and cause of death is 1997. During the period 1995-1997, the estimated (crude) death rates due to all causes combined were fairly stable for both sexes (Figure 2).



Figure 2.
Source: PAHO/AIS. Technical Information System. Table Generator. (December 2005) http://www.paho.org



Socioeconomic context



Health expenditure

Public expenditure on health was 1.7% of gross domestic product in 2000-2001. [4]



Environmental health

Practically the entire population has access to improved water sources, as well as to sanitation services (Figure 3).



Figure 3.
Source: PAHO/AIS. Health Situation in the Americas. Basic Indicators 2005. Washington, DC, 2005.



Education

Among the population aged 15 years and over, literacy was 97.8% in 1998 among males and 98.7% among females. [5] In 2002-2003, the gross enrollment rate at the primary level exceeded 100% among both men and women, and was also very high for the secondary level (Figure 4).



Figure 4.
Source: UNESCO. http://www.uis.unesco.org , 24 January 2006.



Resources that facilitate initiatives leading to gender equality

Commitment to gender equality
The facultative protocol for the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) [6]: Yes No
- Was signed X  
- Was ratified by the legislature X  



Abortion policy [7]
  Yes No
Does the penal code prohibit abortion?   X



Health Situation

In 2005, life expectancy at birth was 77.6 years for women and 75.4 years for men. [8] Recent demographic estimates found an increasing trend in life expectancy, with a gap of 2.6 more years for women in the year 2010 (Figure 5).



Figure 5.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base. http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/ , 14 March 2006.



Mortality

Male age-specific death rates due to all causes combined, in 1997, were higher than female rates in all age groups except among children 1 to 4 years old (Figure 6).

There were 9 infant deaths in 2004. [9]

Figure 6.
Source: PAHO/AIS. Technical Information System. Table Generator. (December 2005)http://www.paho.org



Mortality due to broad groups of causes

When mortality in British Virgin Islands was considered by cause of death and by age group, the calculation of death rates for ages under 15 years presented two problems: the small number of persons in the total population, and the very few deaths that naturally occur at young ages. In fact, most of the death rates in 1997 were zero. All of this makes the death rates less meaningful, and they have been omitted from the material that follows.

Among the population 15 to 44 years old, male mortality due to external causes was much higher than that due to any of the other causes of death examined, in either sex (Figure 7). However, at ages 45 to 64, diseases of the circulatory system caused much higher mortality among men than external causes did; among women, however, neoplasms were the major cause of mortality, and external causes had relatively little importance as a cause of death (Figure 7).



Figure 7.
Source: Based on data from: PAHO/AIS. Technical Information System. Table Generator. (December 2005) http://www.paho.org Source: Idem.

Mortality due to malignant neoplasms of the digestive organs and peritoneum is an important element within total mortality due to neoplasms. In the age group 45 to 64 years, in 1997 the male death rate due to this cause was 49 per 100,000 and the female rate, 38. Among women, deaths due to malignant neoplasms of this site, together with mortality from malignant neoplasms of uterus (39 per 100,000 women) and breast (38), contributed three-fourths of the total mortality due to neoplasms, in British Virgin Islands, at ages 45 to 64 years. [10]



Selected causes of death

Ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus are major causes of death among adults 45 years and over, and especially adults 65 years and over (Figures 8 and 9)). However, in 1997, many more women 45 to 64 years of age died from malignant neoplasms of uterus or breast than from any of these diseases (Figures 8 and 9).



Figure 8.
Source: Idem. Source: Idem.



Figure 9.
Source: Idem. Source: Idem.

Accidents, suicide and homicide are all included in the grouping external causes of death . In 1997, female mortality was fairly low, or zero, for all external causes, whereas among males there was considerable mortality due to several of the categories included in this grouping (Figure 10).



Figure 10.
Source: Idem.



Sexual and reproductive health

In 2004 the total fertility rate in the British Virgin Islands was 1.7 children per woman. [11]

There were no maternal deaths in 2004. [12]

A total of 18 male cases of AIDS, and 11 female, were reported during the period 1988-2002 (Figure 11). Five cases of unknown sex were also reported during this period, and two prior to this period: one each in 1985 and 1986. Data are not available on the number of people under treatment with antiretroviral drugs or the number who need such treatment.



Figure 11.
Source: PAHO/AI and National AIDS Program.

Access to health services



Prenatal care and care at childbirth

In 2003, all births were attended by trained personnel and all pregnant women received at least one consultation for prenatal care, provided by a trained health worker. [13]



Health personnel

Although this topic is an essential element in the analysis of gender-based inequalities related to the participation of women and men in the health sector, the statistics that would allow such analyses are not currently available.



[1] PAHO/AIS. Health Situation in the Americas. Basic Indicators 2005. Washington, DC, 2005.

[2] Based on: PAHO/AIS. Technical Information System. Table Generator. http://www.paho.org , 26 January 2006.

[3] U.S. Census Bureau. International Data Base. http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/ , 14 March 2006.

[4] PAHO/AIS. Health Situation in the Americas. Basic Indicators 2005 . Washington, DC, 2005.

[5] PAHO/AIS. Health Situation in the Americas. Basic Indicators 2005 . Washington, DC, 2005.

[6] United Nations. Division for the Advancement of Women, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw , 27 March 2006. Data for Great Britain.

[7] United Nations. Population Policy Data Bank, Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. New York, N.Y. http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/doc , 27 March 2006. Data for Great Britain.

[8] PAHO/AIS. Health Situation in the Americas. Basic Indicators 2005 . Washington, DC, 2005.

[9] PAHO/AIS. Health Situation in the Americas. Basic Indicators 2005 . Washington, DC, 2005.

[10] The data in this paragraph are from: PAHO/AIS. Technical Information System. Table Generator, http://www.paho.org (December 2005).

[11] PAHO/GE. Gender, Health and Development in the Americas. Basic Indicators 2005. Washington, DC, 2005.

[12] PAHO/AIS. Health Situation in the Americas. Basic Indicators 2005 . Washington, DC, 2005.

[13] PAHO/AIS. Health Situation in the Americas. Basic Indicators 2005 . Washington, DC, 2005.