Jamaica AIDS Support for Life says gender-based violence (GBV) or its threat is likely to increase a woman’s vulnerability to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by making it difficult or impossible to set the terms of an equal relationship. According to Research and Communications Coordinator at Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, Nicolette Jones, it is more difficult for women to...

In another two years, key stakeholders in the health sector will be equipped with informed data on eating patterns of Jamaicans aged 16-60, courtesy of a National Health Fund (NHF) $14.6 million survey being undertaken by the University of Technology (UTech). Under the project called JA-LIVITY, spearheaded by the College of Health Sciences at UTech, several entities dealing with health...

Minister of Health, Hon. Horace Dalley met with the eight families of the babies who died during a bacterial infection outbreak at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the University Hospital of the West Indies. The meeting which lasted close to three hours took place at the UHWI Board Room on Thursday, November 12, 2015. Minister Dalley empathised with the mothers...

In light of the announcement by the Caribbean Public Health Agency on Thursday, November 12, 2015 that the zika virus has been detected in a Caribbean country, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marion Bullock DuCasse says persons need to be more vigilant and take their responsibility as citizens seriously by cleaning up their environment and destroying mosquito breeding sites. The Chief...

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has provided J$29.94 million (US$250,000) in grant funding support for the Government’s formulation of a 10-year health sector development plan for Jamaica. This provision is being facilitated under a technical cooperation agreement and will finance the sector’s strengthening, through strategic planning to improve systems and structures at primary and secondary facilities. The aim is to...

The first set of 22 dental surgeons, trained and certified by the University of Technology’s (UTech) College of Oral Health Sciences, are highly competent and are on par with professionals in first world countries such as the United States (US). Board Member of the US-based Commission on Dental Competency Assessments, which administers dental examinations, Dr. Maurice Miles, made the declaration...

The National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) is taking to social media to reach out to young people in a Ganja Youth Awareness Programme. The initiative targets teenagers in the 13-18 age group. Speaking at a recent JIS Think Tank, NCDA Executive Director, Michael Tucker, said it is imperative to meet the young people where they are and through a...