Above: Dr Heather Johnson

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Young people who are constantly exposed to violence invariably develop complex psychosomatic illnesses, which very often lead to other chronic non-communicable diseases, according to CARICOM’s Dr Heather Johnson.

Dr Johnson, who is the body’s Deputy Programme Manager for Youth Development, was speaking to the national consultation on youth gangs and gang violence in St Kitts Monday.

Young people in the Caribbean who were both the victims and perpetrators of violence were committing more vicious and senseless crimes each day, she said, stressing that an effective response was needed urgently.

The programme in St Kitts is organized in part by the United Nations Development Programme. St Kitts and Nevis is one of four countries selected to pilot the project, which is aimed at mitigating gangs and gang violence, along with Belize, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.