Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Fenton Ferguson, says public health officials are busy sanitising schools affected by the Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, and where necessary they will decide on the closure of the institutions. In an interview with JIS News, Dr. Ferguson informed that as of September 30, some 58 schools and 123 students were confirmed to have been...

The Jamaica Cancer Society is reporting that more men are heeding the call to take Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) tests and Digital Rectal Examinations (DRE) for prostate cancer. In an interview with JIS News, Executive Director of the Jamaica Cancer Society, Yulit Gordon, said the response was largely due to women wanting to get the men in their lives screened....

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has lauded the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF) on its programme offered to adolescent mothers. The Foundation, which was established in 1978 in response to the high occurrence of teenage pregnancies in Jamaica, provides continuing education for adolescent mothers and, where possible, facilitates the return of high school drop outs to institutions that...

The smiles of thousands of ordinary Jamaicans have been made brighter through the outreach work provided by the country’s first dental training school, the College of Oral Health Sciences. A faculty of the University of Technology (UTech), the college has, for decades, offered dental services free of cost through clinics and health centres in the public health sector. The dental...

The South East Regional Authority (SERHA) is closely monitoring cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease that have been found in at least three schools in Kingston and St. Andrew and six schools in St. Catherine. The Health Departments in the respective parishes have been working closely with the schools to minimise the spread of the disease. The schools have...

Employers are being encouraged to be as accommodating as possible in the workplace in assisting lactating mothers who have returned to work, so they can sustain breastfeeding for at least six months, so that their babies can be adequately nourished. In an interview with JIS News, Director of Nutrition in the Ministry of Health, Sharmaine Edwards, explained that the Ministry...

Thousands of residents of Rowlandsfield and surrounding districts in St. Thomas now have access to improved healthcare delivery following the upgrading of the community health centre at a cost of $13.9 million. The project entailed expansion of floor space and waiting area; putting in additional patient rooms; roofing and tiling works; installation of a water storage facility; providing wheelchair access;...