Hon. Mark Brantley Shares Government’s Strides In Alleviating Poverty

(ZIZ News) — Foreign Affairs Minister, Hon. Mark Brantley has shared St. Kitts and Nevis’ strides in alleviating poverty in the lives of residents.

Minister Brantley, whose comments came as he addressed the Seventh Summit of the Americas, said the government has tackled hunger and poverty head on with a number of innovative and reasonable policies which are producing substantive results.

“We also know that the issue of poverty cannot be addressed without focusing on gender inequality thus, we have endeavoured to level the playing field for women throughout our society. We can never have prosperity with equity if women continue to be marginalised,” he said.

Brantley showed the link between poverty and inadequate healthcare. He said the government recognises the connection and is taking steps to ensure that residents have affordable and reliable healthcare services.

“Health is an extricable link to poverty and the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is fully cognizant that a healthy population is a prosperous population thus we are working assiduously to implement universal healthcare for all of our citizens,” he said.

“We view access to free healthcare as a fundamental human right and despite us being the smallest independent nation state in the hemisphere and facing all of the challenges that this entails, we view this goal as highly attainable and urge our regional family to embrace the commitment for all of our peoples,” Minister Brantley added.

Brantley said access to free, universal healthcare is no less than what Kittitians and Nevisians deserve.