St Kitts and Nevis: The Prime Minister and Minister of Health of St Kitts and Nevis – Dr Terrance Drew, attended the Regional Symposium meeting held in Trinidad and Tobago yesterday, April 17, 2023, under the theme of “Violence as a Public Health Issue: The Crime Challenge”. The meeting was held in the auspices of Heads of the CARICOM (the Caribbean Community and Common Market).
To share the news with the residents of St Kitts and Nevis, Prime Minister Terrance Drew took to his official social media handle and posted a live video from the event. He was accompanied by a number of leaders from the sister Caribbean countries, such as Saint Lucia, the Commonwealth of Dominica, The Bahamas etc.
During his address, PM Drew took it to convey that this conference is an essential step towards having much-needed discussions and meetings over the issue of crime and violence in the Caribbean region. In his remarks, he noted, “My intervention at the Regional Symposium in Trinidad and Tobago, “Violence as a Public Health Issue: The Crime Challenge”.”
While expressing his views and opinion on such issues of crime and the theme of the event, Violence as a Public Health Issue: The Crime Challenge, he explained that “It is clear that much work has been done to document the risk factors in the region; the characteristics of victims and perpetrators; and the impacts and effects on the individual, family, country, and region.”
In such regards, PM Terrance Drew furthermore quoted a famous saying from a Jamaican politician and activist, Marcus Garvey and stated that Marcus Garvey once said, “Man is a product of his mind”. In other words, “Violence is learned behaviour”.
“As a medical doctor, I say, what is learned can be unlearned provided that there is a definition of the issue and early application of best-practice interventions,” he added. In this context, Additionally, PM Drew shared his experience from his studies as a medical doctor along with studying human behaviour.
Meanwhile, he pointed out that one of his colleagues during his studying day, Frank Ervin, a behaviourist and neurologist who studied at Harvard University, Texas, told him that the issue of crime and violence is debatably connected with the genetics, according to his research on criminals with illnesses who could have diagnosed and treated in time.
During the symposium, Prime Minister Drew was accompanied by his small delegation, including Permanent Secretary of Prime Minister’s Office, Naeemah Hazelle; Permanent Secretary National Security, Cecile Hull; Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, Dr Sharon Archibald; and Adviser, Ministry of Health, Dr Patrick Martin.
