The Worrying Behaviours and Trends among Teens in The Bahamas

The Bahamas Ministry of Health Global School Health Report 2025

The Vices and Challenges in the Life of Teens in The Bahamas

From the 2025 GSHS - The Bahamas

The literature is saturated with irrefutable links between chilchood obesity, adolesoent (teen) obesity and adult obesity.  A 2024 systematic review concluded that obese children and teens were five times more likely to be obese in aduilthood than their non-obese counterparts.

The review further revealed that around 55% of obese chidren become obese in adolescence: around 80% of obese adolescents will still be obese in adulthood; and around 70% will be obese over age 30.  In TheBahamas, 71.6% of adults are overweight.  Of this, 43.6% are obese.  Recall adolescent obesity in the country stands at 21%.

Food insecurity significantly impacts adolescent development, and is associated with low diet quality. poor health, and challenges in cognitive and social development. Adolescents facing food shortages are more likely to struggle with behavioral issues, lower educational attainment, school absenteeism, and experiences of bullying.

The impact is even more far-reaching, as adolescents experiencing food insecurity are also more prone to feelings of worry and shame, mental health challenges, and heightened vulnerability to unwanted sexual contact, exploitation early labor market entry, and involvement in the criminal justice system, all of which limit life choices.

In The Bahamas, 30 8% of teens curently experience food insecurity - a notable improvement from 43.7% in 1998.  However, this figure remains above the 27.5% global average for adolescent food insecurity.

In 2019, 33% of all Bahanians faced some level of food insecurity, a rate significantly higher than the global average of 9% but below the 43% average for the English-speaking Caribbean.

Sugar, fat and salt (in excess) have been recognized as nutrients of public health concern.  The vast majority of teens (71.7%) consume weekly diets high in fat, salt and added sugars.

By contrast, only 5.7% and 10.3% of teens eat the recommended daily intake (RDl) of fruits and vegetables, respectively.  These dietary habits are compounded by low physical activity levels, with 83.3% of teens failing to meet the minimum physical activity level.

These realities underscore that the nutrition quality of meals consumed by teens and physical activity need laser-focused attention and aggressive policy in-roads.

Given the increasing prevalence of NCDs in the general population, the increase in NCD risk factors among Bahamian adolescents has consequential implications for The Bahamas' ability to achieve and sustainably fund any universal health coverage scheme.

Basic health screenings or preventative health checks among teens are low, while beliefs contributing to vaccine hesitancy are notably high.  Among the preventive health behaviors surveyed, only eye examinations show a slight upward trend, albeit marginal.

Sexual behavior trends showed mixed resuts.  More teens abstained from sex in 2023 compared to previous survey cycles, and fewer sexually active teens reported having muitiple partners - 14.6% in 2023, down from 55.1% in 1998.

Despite this progress, risky bahaviors are still too common.  Among sexually active teens, there was a concerning gap between teens' knowledge of condom benefits (71.6%) and actual condom usage rato (47.7%) during their last sexual encounter.

Also, at that time, only 6.8% reported using hormonal birth control to prevent pregnancy.  Disturbingly, 56.6% of sexuallly teens initiated sexual activity at sge 13 or younger, with boys more likely than girls to debut early and have multiple sex partners.

The 2025 GSHS paints an unsettling profile of substance use among teens in The Bahamas.  The lifetime smoking prevalence of traditional cigarettes stands at 20.3%, and current prevalence is 11%, underscoring the persistent use of traditional tobacco products in Bahamian society.

Globally, however, e-cigarette use is outpacing traditional cigarette consumption among teens, a trend that is  mirrored in The Bahamas.  Although The Bahamas lacks multi-year data on e-cigarette use among teens, the 2023 GSHS introduces new insights into this emerging product.

Notably, while traditional cigarette use remains higher among boys compared to girls, the gender gap has narrowed significantly between 2013 and 2023.  In contrast, e-cigarette use is more prevalent among girls (17.6%) than bays (16.4%), with an overal prevalence of 17.2%, meaning nearly 2 in 10 Bahamian teens currently use e-cigarettes.

When compared internationally, the prevalence of e-cigarette use among Bahamian teens rivals global prevalences.  For instance, the average e-cigarette prevalence is 18.1% in Europe (2021); 17.4% in the United States (2022); and 1447, in Cenada (2022).

Within the Cabbean sub-region, e-cigarette use for Bahamian  teens is among the highest, equaling those of Trinidad and Tobago (17.2%), and significatly surpassing Antigua and Barbuda (4%), Jamaica (11.7%), and St.Lucia (11%).

Alcohol consumption is widesproad, with 73.9% of teans roporting use (excluding religious secraments), and 33.6% identifying as current alcohol drinkers.

Binge drinking and drunkedness are increasing, especilly among girls.  These statistics are disconcerting, especially given the survey sampling age was 12 to 18 years; and the national legal drinking age is 18 years.  There is a higher proportion of girls than boys engaged in the harmful use of alcohol- binge drinking and intoxication.

Lifetime illegal drug use is also on the rise - with  marijuana at 16.6% and non prescription opioids at 4.9%.  Cocaine use rose from 1% in 1998 to 12% in 2023.

Altogether, these are worrying trends.  Boys are more likely than girls to use illegal substances.

Opinions on access to drugs varied, with 29.3% finding it impossible or very difficult, 11.1% fairly difficult, and 16.5% fairly easy or very easy to accoss. Forty-three (43%) did not know the easy or difficulty of obtaining illegal drugs.

Source / Full Report

Alcoholism and other drugs abuse in The Bahamas

Alcoholism – The Hidden Scourge
The Bahama Journal Editorial



That we live in a place and in a time when drugs and alcohol abuse is rampant is the commonsense of the land.

And for sure, the time has come for those who lead to address this problem; since it is the one problem that relates directly to the problems we now have as regards public safety.

What we know for sure is that if this and other problems are to be resolved, those who have the power to tax and authorize spending, should – if only for ‘conscience-sake’ understand and live up to their social responsibility – that being to help the alcoholic and drugs addict get up from under the rubble.

But as we appreciate so very well, most Bahamians just seem not to get it when they are told that, there is [in truth and in fact] a vitally important connection to be made between public health and public safety.

And so what we have is a situation on the ground where practically everyone we know seems content to obsess themselves with the murder count and nonsensical conversations as to what the police should be doing about the so-called crime problem.

In the interim, some of these people ignore the fact that, there are certain social practices that lead directly to what is perceived as the “crime problem’.

Highest on that list of practices would be the indiscriminate and often profligate consumption of liquor, other spirits and a nasty mix of other drugs, licit and illicit alike.

In this regard then, we would suggest that, Bahamians of all strata and all other social conditions, routinely use alcohol as part of their family and community rituals; and for sure, even as very many of these people consume alcohol because it tends to lubricate social intercourse; few of them understand that use can and does sometime lead to abuse.

In addition, abuse sometimes slouches into a full-fledged medical crisis – alcoholism.

Here we suspect that, this problem is far more widespread than many people might recognize and that it may very well help explain the horrendous impact, drugs and alcohol have as regards impairing a person’s judgment; and thus and thereafter the carnage on our streets that comes with all those car crashes that maim and kill so very many people.

In addition, there are all those other instances when intoxicated men and women - with inhibitions lowered – routinely resort to this or that besotted display of so-called masculinity; with this or that knucklehead vowing that he can –as the saying goes- hold his liquor.

Here as night follows day, the person in question poisons himself; this is what intoxication is all about!

And so, there you have it, some of the more god-awful actions are thereafter committed by people who are lurking somewhere or the other on the borderline of insanity – as induced by not only alcohol; but this drug in combination with ganja and pharmaceuticals..

In combination, these produce a veritable witches’ brew of concocted nastiness.

It is this nastiness that leaves families in distress; threatens public safety and which – in and of itself – can be associated with the problems now facing those charged with ensuring public safety.

It is always cause for the greatest distress for us as we visit this or that community or settlement throughout our archipelago when we come across men and women whose lives have been left ravaged and ruined by drugs and alcohol abuse.

Indeed, whether reference is made to some of the settlements in Eleuthera, Exuma, Andros, Abaco, Acklins, Crooked Island – or islands and cays further away – the fact remains that there are far too many of our men and women who are being destroyed by alcohol.

But even more tellingly, as alcohol ravages family life; despoils community and otherwise threatens to upend national development; few people seem to know what is to be done about the matter at hand.

As a necessary consequence of this failure, we now have a situation on our hands where –as the price is totted up – the conclusion beckons that, those who can do something about the matter are either blind to it and its implications; or that they could care less.

Here suffice it to say that, we are absolutely convinced that, the government in concert with its social partners and other interested stake-holders can and should wake to the reality that – if left unchecked and therefore unaddressed – the alcoholism scourge will continue to undermine most of their other efforts.

Evidently, there is a role for the government to play in dealing with this twinned crisis – one where there must be a keener understanding that when a person has been felled by alcoholism or by some other drugs abuse; they need help.

That effort should be led by the government; and thereafter supported by all other right-thinking Bahamians and residents.

November 30th, 2010

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Dr. Duane Sands always supported a health plan for all Bahamians

Tribune242 Editorial:



DURING THE Elizabeth by-election campaign over the past few weeks, the PLP has tried to make the voters of that constituency believe that Dr Duane Sands -- the FNM's candidate for the vacant seat -- is not interested in the poor because he was against National Health Insurance.

Nothing could be further from the truth. As a matter of fact we do not know of any doctor who publicly admitted to being against insurance for general health care. (The National Health Insurance Act 2006 was tabled in parliament by the Christie government on November 15, 2006).

However, there were many doctors, some of them quite vocal, who expressed the belief that the scheme as then proposed would not solve the Bahamas' healthcare problems. On the contrary it would never be able to deliver the standard of care promised by the PLP government's Blue Ribbon Commission.

In various statements, one before the Rotary Club of Nassau on March 16, 2006, Dr Sands made it clear that he believed every Bahamian was entitled to health care as of right.

"The goal of the Blue Ribbon Commission and the National Health Insurance plan are admirable and universally held," Dr Sands told Rotary. However, "they will not be achieved with this plan as currently outlined and will likely cause far more damage than ever anticipated."

Dr Robin Roberts, chairman of the National Coalition for Health Care Reform -- the brother of PLP chairman Bradley Roberts -- was of the same opinion.

In Dr Roberts' view the plan advanced by the PLP's Blue Ribbon Commission raised many unanswered questions. "We believe it to be our responsibility and the responsibility of all right-minded thinking Bahamians to raise those questions and to engage in true and meaningful consultation with Government in seeking answers," he said.

In expressing his concern, Dr Sands gave the analogy of a flight to London. "In the economy class," he said, "sit the majority of travellers. Space is limited but comfortable and the food is palatable. Up from there is business class, with larger seats, more space and sumptuous fare ... exceeded only by the plush and posh environment of first class. Same plane, same pilot no difference in destination or safety. One size does not fit all. Everyone cannot afford Atlantis or Ocean Club -- but they certainly should continue to exist."

It was because of his concern for those in economy class -- the poor of this country-- that he disagreed with the national health plan as then designed. He saw the plan as a "frightenly retrogressive step that will lead to less accountability, longer waiting times and reduced quality (of health care)." It was a plan that offered first class seats that could not be delivered to the poor.

"For the sake of all Bahamians," said Dr Robin Roberts, "let's take the time to get it right!"

But an election was around the corner. It was more important for the PLP to win that election rather than to get it right.

Tribune files are filled with public statements by Dr Sands, saying 'yes we need public health,' but let's get it right or the people's lot will be worse than what they now have.

And so how Dr Bernard Nottage -- who as Minister of Health on rejoining the PLP was given the task of taking the PLP's health plan to the people -- could say with a straight face that his "impression" was that Dr Sands did not support National Health Insurance, is beyond comprehension. No wonder the general public do not trust most politicians.

Dr Sands said it many times over that he supported national health insurance, but not the plan devised as an election-gimmick by the PLP government. He believed the Bahamian people -- especially the poor -- deserved better.

Now we invite Dr Nottage to recall one of the consultative meetings that Dr Marcus Bethel -- at the time the PLP government's Minister of Health -- held with a group of physicians at the School of Nursing. The meeting was to discuss government's national health insurance plan.

According to our records, Dr Nottage, who then headed his own party, the CDR -- he had not yet returned to the fold of his old party the PLP -- sat quietly throughout the discussion -- that is until towards the end. It was then that it is claimed he dropped his verbal "bomb." We understand that the gist of his angry remarks was that the Blue Ribbon Commission hadn't a clue what it was doing. It was basing its conclusions on faulty information, and as such the plan was not sustainable.

We certainly got the impression at the time that Dr Sands and Dr Nottage were singing from the same hymn sheet. But, one must remember that when Dr Nottage was singing his song, he headed his own political party in Opposition to the PLP. However, in the interim he rejoined his old government, became its Minister of Health and took the PLP's health scheme to the public. Today, he is in Elizabeth trying to get his party's candidate elected, and in the bargain misrepresenting the position of the opposition candidate -- Dr Duane Sands.

Really the PLP are just too much. This misrepresentation alone should make voters think twice before casting their ballots for the PLP candidate on Tuesday. Not that there's anything wrong with the candidate -- it's the party that's the problem.

February 12, 2010

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International