(Seychelles News Agency) - The fact that Seychelles is the top African country on the Human Development Index is due to the progress and effort that the country has put into the wellbeing and development of its people, a top government official said.

The Human Development Index 2016 of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released last month, ranked Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, as the top country in the African region. Mauritius comes second followed by Algeria.

Speaking to SNA, the principal secretary of Family Affairs, Marie-Josee Bonne, said that the Seychelles’ government is using the people-centred approach.

“This is because without healthy people, we cannot have healthy, sustainable and productive development,” Bonne said.

She added that “Seychelles needs to sustain the good results and work hard at redressing inequalities in all its forms.”

Globally, Seychelles is ranked 63rd among 188 countries, and Bonne says that there is some work to be done to improve our global ranking.

The index also indicates that in every society certain groups are far more likely to suffer disadvantages than others and identifies deep-rooted, and often unmeasured, barriers to development.

“As a ministry we do not only provide services to help people in our communities, but we must consider the proactive arm,” said the principal secretary.

Bonne added that: "We must identify the root causes of these inequalities, often we refer to them as problems, for us to then be able to develop intervention programmes and then be able to monitor and evaluate their effectiveness.”

Talking about the achievements made which put Seychelles top in African countries on the Index, Bonne said, the government’s target is to reach everyone in the country’s development goals.

“We have recently launched a family policy and we are working on an ageing policy. Our engagement remains to provide free education, free health care service, among others,” she said.

Although there has been much progress in many areas of human development, Bonne said there are still some hurdles to overcome.

Bonne hopes to get the necessary support, which will help them to develop a gender management system that will be their main guide to monitor the gender small development goals.

The report recommends countries to keep up with their efforts to expand on human ingenuity, women’s empowerment, while increasing awareness of sustainability in order to have a High Development Index.