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The St. Mary Office of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), has been working closely with the farmers of that parish to increase the cultivation of pepper. Victor Edwards, RADA Parish Manager for St. Mary, told JIS News that hot pepper was one of the crops being targeted for cultivation in the parish under the Ministry of Agriculture's Domestic Food...

Persons living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) should now find it easier to access antiretroviral drugs provided by the National HIV/Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Control programme. This has been made possible through a National Health Fund/Antiretroviral (ARV) tracking system, which has been implemented by the government following a Cabinet submission and a formal...

Skills For a Life, an HIV/AIDS and sexual health education programme for young people with learning disabilities, was officially launched this morning (Nov.1) at the Hilton Kingston Hotel. The programme is an initiative of 3D Projects, a St. Catherine-based community rehabilitation service dedicated to the development of persons with disabilities, with support from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF). It...

Several persons in Port Antonio had to be evacuated from their homes on Sunday (October 30), as a result of heavy rains which pelted Portland over the weekend. The rains caused flooding, landslides and road damage in several areas of the parish, rendering a number of roads impassable, while others could only accommodate single lane traffic. The heavy rains also...

Arts and Culture Jamaica Inc. will present one of Jamaica's premier classical performers, Dawn-Marie, in concert on November 19, 2005. The concert, billed as "an evening of Christmas music", will take place at the Unionville Alliance Church, 4898 16th Avenue in Unionville, just north of Toronto. Dr. Barry Davies will accompany the internationally renowned soprano who will thrill her audience...

Minister of Health, John Junor has pointed out that with the advances in HIV/AIDS care, individuals who are diagnosed early with HIV could live healthy normal lives with the appropriate treatment and monitoring. The Minister was addressing the opening of the Immunology Centre at the National Laboratory, on Slipe Pen Road recently. He reiterated that equipment, facilities and drugs to...

An Immunology Centre is now in operation at the National Public Health Laboratory at Slipe Pen Road, in Kingston, with facilities to offer Viral Load testing, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technology to reduce risk of window period transmission during blood screening and CD4 count testing for HIV patients. According to Minister of Health, John Junor, who was speaking at the...

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has issued 25 permits to automotive battery dealers across the island, in the agency's efforts to widen the net of collecting used lead acid batteries. Paulette Kolbusch, Manager of NEPA's Regulations, Standards and Guidelines Branch told JIS News that the permits were issued as part of the Used Lead Acid Battery (ULAB) Project....

Nineteen-year-old Jason is the typical teenager. He dreams of one day owning a car, he likes hanging out with his friends and he has visions of getting married and fathering children. There is however one exception that makes his life different from that of the average teenager. For the past two years Jason has had to live with the knowledge...

The coconut beautification project being carried out on Pigeon Island has been hailed as an initiative that demonstrates that citizens do not have to always wait on government to make the first move. Director of Projects at the Coconut Industry Board, Basil Been, tells JIS News that the beautification project, which has been ongoing for some 15 years, is a...

By the end of November 2005, state-of-the-art crime fighting technology, in the form of the Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS), will be a part of the Jamaica Constabulary Force's arsenal. The announcement was made on Friday (Oct. 28) by Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, at a signing ceremony for the equipment, held at the Ministry's New Kingston offices....

The Energy Conservation and Efficiency Exhibition staged by the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) culminated on October 27 with the official visit of Prime Minister P.J. Patterson. The Prime Minister lauded the PCJ on its tremendous efforts of educating the nation on energy use and conservation and emphasized that "we in Jamaica are obliged to accelerate our programmes for energy...