PM Drew calls for public health approach to combat crime at regional & global levels

St Kitts and Nevis: Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew during a recent roundtable conference championed the need to address crime and violence from a public health perspective.

He said that when he left the United Nations, he went on to Washington DC to attend the 61st PAHO - Pan American Health Organization meeting where St Kitts and Nevis was part of the Directing Council. 

The Prime Minister said that he participated in that meeting directly where he discussed a number of pertinent issues and he also met with the director where he spoke about looking at violence from a public health perspective. 

“I have brought that now to PAHO and also to the OAS. I also brought it to the United Nations, to the Caricom, and right here locally. I am going to be the champion for that across the way across the region in whichever forum I am in because this issue of violence is affecting the whole region, and we have to deal with it not only from a local perspective but also from a regional and international perspective,” outlined Dr Drew. 

In addition to this, he shed light on the recently created Citizen Security Secretariat in St Kitts and Nevis and said that it is a designation that means that one is not just dealing with violence and crime and noted that national security is usually linked with law enforcement. 

He added that his government wants to shift the understanding that when one speaks about citizen security it is not just about that but also towards that all the citizens must have proper water, food, access to education, healthcare as well as a robust democratic system. 

The Prime Minister emphasised that the term citizen has a personal touch focusing on people while national security by its connotation is rather more impersonal as it relates to the matters of the state. 

With this, PM Terrance Drew said that his government remains committed to upholding law and order along with citizen security as an important component in order to ensure that every citizen, resident and visitor can reside, work or play in a safe and secure environment.