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Poverty to Prosperity
Budget Presentation
Gordon House March 19, 2015
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It is no accident that Singapore long ago got on top of this social and cultural situation. In
1985 when our adolescent birth rate was 129 per 100,000 theirs was 11 per 100,000 and
today it is 6 per 100,000.
There are some social and cultural beliefs, that we as a people hold on to, which our leaders
fear to challenge, because of the politics of poverty. Then we turn around and wonder why
we are poor. Having children before you have the means to afford them and provide a
certain quality of life, actually decrease the life chances of both the child and the parents. It
increases the social cost to everyone else and continues the cycle of poverty. The National
Family Planning Board should be specifically mandated to conduct a public education
campaign to rapidly reduce adolescent pregnancies.
Mr. Speaker, a healthy society is a productive society. Health policy is therefore a critical
part of any growth strategy. In two instances, the government by the way in which it has
handled the issues confronting the health sector has negatively impacted the country‟s
growth prospects. First, the government mishandled the Chickungunya epidemic. Minister
Ferguson knew about the possible epidemic two years before the outbreak. The
government led by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller hosted a regional conference here
in Kingston, with Dr. Ferguson as the point minister, on the Chick-V virus and its spread
throughout the region. Mr. Speaker, with that forewarning – information in hand, THE
GOVERNMENT DID NOTHING!