Unpublished M, Sc. Research Papers 7, Central Statistical Office, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 1974. Prices, Wages and Incomes in Contemporary Trinidad and Tobago. This is more than half of the child population of the West Indies. The mortality rate of children one to four years of age is three to six times that in North America and Europe.
Anaemia associated with inadequate intake of folate is common.
Among affluent adults, overweight and frank obesity, with the attendant problems of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are becoming important public health concerns in the region. Existing data based on national food availability show figures on food energy supplies that vary from being adequate to meet requirements to 30 per cent above daily requirements, and protein supplies are also well above requirement levels. This clearly indicates the degree of maldistribution of food supplies, especially considering the large proportion of low-income families who have to spend 80 per cent of their income on food. As noted by Allen and McIntosh, the extent of government intervention in the food marketing system is greater in Jamaica than in Trinidad and Tobago. In Jamaica, the democratic socialist government supports the idea of a mixed economy and recognizes that adequate nutrition is an important objective in overall socio-economic development.