The Government has allocated more than $26 million to strengthen Jamaica’s health systems, through the development of a 10-year Strategic Development Plan for the sector. This is contained in the 2016/17 Estimates of Expenditure, tabled in the House of Representatives on April 14. Under the project, titled ‘Strengthening of Health Systems in Jamaica’, there will also be the creation of...

The Ministry of Health will continue its implementation of a programme to reduce AIDS-related morbidity and mortality this year, through effective biomedical and supporting interventions. A sum of approximately $624 million has been allocated in the 2016/17 Estimates of Expenditure, tabled in the House of Representatives on April 14, for the project. The project, titled ‘Support to the National HIV/AIDS...

The Government has allocated $6.8 million to a project to strengthen the country’s national surveillance systems and establish an institutional coordination mechanism to respond to vector borne diseases as well as prepare for the threat of the Ebola virus. This is contained in the 2016/17 Estimates of Expenditure, tabled in the House of Representatives on April 14 by Minister of...

The Ministry of Health is to continue the implementation of a project to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health, with the allocation of $501.25 million. This allocation is contained in the 2016/17 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The Programme for Reduction of Maternal and Child Mortality (PROMAC) in Jamaica is aimed at the attainment of...

Minister of Health, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says the Ministry is looking to strengthen coordination among the four Regional Health Authorities (RHAs), particularly as it relates to the sharing of expertise. “We are looking at things like telemedicine, because you have the experts at the University Hospital of the West Indies, who can provide support to Savanna-la-Mar, for example....

The Ministry of Health is to spend some $1.32 billion under the Health Services Improvement Project to support enhanced service delivery in the public health system. This is contained in the 2016/17 Estimates of Expenditure, tabled in the House of Representatives on April 14, by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw. The targets for the fiscal...

Regional Director, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dr. Michelle Pinnock, says the Ministry stands in full support of programmes aimed at preventing tobacco use among young people. “We recognise the reality as it relates to our young people and smoking and we join the action towards finding solutions,” she said. She was addressing an anti-tobacco forum for students staged...