Bahamas News
Bush Medicine getting a Desk in Bahamas Ministry of Health
By Rashaed Esson
Staff Writer
#TheBahamas, April 13, 2023 – Dr. Micheal Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness announced at the House of Assembly on March 22, 2023, that his ministry will establish a Bush Medicines desk under the new Wellness Unit which was launched on Thursday March 23, 2023. This announcement follows the reveal of results from the 2019 STEPS Survey of nearly 2,500 people, ages 18-69.
The survey says more that 10 percent of people with hypertension, diabetes, or both, at a point following their diagnosis, looked for advice from traditional healers with as much as 20 percent ingesting herbal or alternative treatment. 
Due to this, Darville’s Ministry, aims to “revisit plans to establish an indigenous medicines desk to ensure that the use of bush medicines and other treatments are regulated and introduced in a safe and proven manner.”
The survey was executed between January and April of 2019 and comprised of three steps.
Step one collected demographic and behavioral information, step two: physical measurements like blood pressure readings, weight, height, and waist and hip circumference and step three captured biochemical measurements such as fasting blood glucose, total blood cholesterol reading, urinary sodium and creatine levels.
Before recognizing the percentage of people who include bush medicine as part of their good health routine, the survey results were announced by the Minister. The results, though dating back to 2019, were hair-raising.
“The findings were startling and highlighted individual risk, major gaps in our public healthcare system which has failed to adequately address health inequities,” said Darville in his presentation.
This comment set up the need for the Health and Wellness Unit and the need to embrace native customs like bush medicines, which many Bahamians prefer to over the country or prescribed medications.
The survey revealed that 23.3 percent of respondents have hypertension, 60 percent of which were taking medications as professionally prescribed and seven percent who never had their blood pressure measured. Also, about 40 percent of the participants who were “non-compliant” with medication had elevated high blood pressure readings at the time of the survey and nearly 9 percent of persons with elevated blood pressure readings expressed that they didn’t having a diagnosis of hypertension.
For Diabetes, 12.8 percent of the respondents reported diabetic and about 22.7 percent of respondents said they had never had their blood sugar levels measured.
The percentage of diagnosed respondents taking their medication was less than 45 percent. Additionally, the survey highlighted that nearly 12 percent diabetic participants with diabetes had elevated fasting blood sugar readings at the time of the survey; and almost six percent with high blood sugar readings “denied having a diagnosis of diabetes.”
Regarding weight, 23.8 percent had normal weight according to the body-mass Index. The percentage classified as overweight was 25.4, and 43.4 as obese with a body-mass-index of 40 or more. This indicated that 70 percent of participants were either overweight or obese. Three in ten people failed to meet the global recommendations for sufficient movement generally. 
Approximately half of the participants consumed a minimum of three to seven alcoholic drinks weekly, 30 days to the survey. However, 30 percent were reported as ‘lifetime abstainers,’ which is relatively good news.
Of the respondents, 17.6 percent consumed six or more drinks and in once instance the 30 days to the survey.
“However, Madam Speaker, All is not lost. The Ministry of Health & Wellness will lead a comprehensive, evidence-based, varied, and multi-pronged response to the findings of this survey, as we work with communities across the country, at correcting these serious health challenges facing the nation brought on by diseases directly linked to lifestyles.
My Ministry will implement many modern treatment and management guidelines for the prevention of cardiovascular disease starting at the primary healthcare setting. We will continue to strengthen health system infrastructure across the country with specific focus on the implementation of new digital platforms and monitoring Apps aimed at meeting the healthcare needs of our patients wherever they are,” conveyed the Minister one day before he helped to open the new Health & Wellness Unit.
Rashaed Esson
Staff Writer
#TheBahamas, August 5, 2023 – An American woman has been arrested in The Bahamas, accused of conspiring with two men, one of them alleged to be her lover, to murder her estranged husband.
The woman, 36 year old Lindsay Shiver and the two men, 28-year-old Terrance Bethel, the alleged lover and 29 year old Faron Newbold, were taken into custody last week following police investigation of a reported burglary at
Grabbers Bar and Grill restaurant on Great Guana Cay.
The police looked into their cell phones and found WhatsApp messages detailing the assassination plot to kill her husband.
The couple, who built a life in South Georgia have three children and are home owners on the island in the Abacos.
News outlets throughout the US have reported on the scandalous story, including that a nasty court battle over the couple’s reported, $5 Million dollar fortune and three children was underway. Shiver, an entrepreneur is a former beauty Alabama queen, her husband a former football player was an insurance executive.
According to US media, the husband, Robert, recently filed for divorce from Shivers after a decade of marriage upon discovering she had an alleged extra-martial affair with Bethel whom she met in The Bahamas.
While the husband claims infidelity on the part of his wife, the wife claims he was abusive.
The suspects Shiver, Bethel and Newbold appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Roberto Reckley on Friday July 28th. Their next court date is set for October 5th.
Rashaed Esson
Staff Writer
#TheBahamas, August 5, 2023 – The Bahamas is now facing an unfortunate reality as sexual assault has become and is a growing issue since 2023. Women and girls are said to be living in fear for their safety from these perpetrators.
The Royal Bahamas Police force has reported on instances of assault in press releases found on their Facebook page.
One report spoke of a 50 year old they were searching for after he burglarized a home and sexually assaulted an elderly woman, 82 years old. She was reported to be asleep when he woke and assaulted her.
This took place on Tuesday July 11th, 2023 at the home in the Centreville area of Nassau.
There is another incident that took place on July 17th, 2023 which the police are seeking in catching the suspect as they investigate. It involves a man believed to the perpetrator in for an armed robbery and sexual assault.
According to preliminary data, he approached the victim, a female, with a firearm, robbed her and sexually assaulted
her. He proceeded to enter the house and robbed a male and escaped. This happened in the Cowpen Road area; also in Nassau.
The assaults continue to grow in number as the police reported that they were investigating two other incidents that took place on July 24th.
The first had to do with a female, 30 years old who reported she was driving on West on Marshall Road when two men approached her after she slowed down near Faith Avenue. One of the males with a firearm, forced her from her vehicle and took her to nearby bushes where they sexually assaulted her after which they escaped.
The second incident involved à 32 year old woman who was sexually assaulted by a male known to her. It is reported that she was walking in the Fleming Street area when she accepted transportation from the suspect, who drove her to a dirt road off Gladstone Road where he presented a firearm and proceeded to rape her.
Furthermore, another assault, this time involving a 9 year old girl, was reported. As revealed by preliminary information, the victim was playing with friends outside where she lives on Saturday July 29th, 2023 when the suspect, a 42 year old male of Summerset Estate, driving a white Nissan Skyline, arrived and gestured to her to enter the car.
She entered the car after which he took her to an unknown location, threatened her and sexually assaulted her. She was later found somewhere in Spikenard Road; this also happened in Nassau.
Fortunately, he was caught and arrested for abduction and sexual assault on Sunday July 30th by officers affiliated with the Drug Enforcement Unit.
There are other reports of sexual assault throughout The Bahamas as well as rape and attempted rape during the earlier parts of the year, dating back to as early as February.
CAPTION: Women Leaders, including Ann Marie Davis, wife of the Prime Minister filled the gallery of The Bahamas Senate this week as members of the upper chamber debated the Protection Against Violence Bill 2023. The debate came just as the country experiences a spike in sexual assaults against women and girls. Photo by Patrick Hanna, BIS.
#TurksandCaicos, August 5, 2023 – On August 3rd, 2023, Premier Misick met with the Leader of the
Opposition of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, the Honorable Michael Pintard. The discussion was highly productive, and they delved into matters of mutual concern between their neighboring nations. Hon. Pintard was accompanied by other opposition members, including Senator the Honorable Darren Handfield and Mr. Joshua Sears.
Group photo caption:
From Left to Right: Mr. Joshua Sears, Senator Hon. Darren Hendfield, Premier Hon. Charles Washington Misick, Bahamas Leader of the Bahamas Hon. Michael Pintard and Deputy Premier Hon. Erwin J. Saunders.
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