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Two imported cases of Influenza A (H1N1) have been identified in Jamaica and contained. The persons had traveled to New York, in the United States, which has recorded a number of confirmed Influenza A (H1N1) cases. The cases were quickly detected as a result of the Ministry's heightened surveillance and monitoring mechanisms. The Ministry's surveillance and monitoring team has detected...

Director of Health Promotion and Protection at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Eva Fuller, says that the Ministry has been working with various entities to get the CARICOM labelling standards revised to require graphics in messages on cigarette boxes. "Studies have shown that they do work, (graphics) they do deter people, persons who have already started smoking; it increases the...

Head of the Department of Basic Medical Sciences at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Dr. Wayne McLaughlin, has advocated greater use of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) evidence, to help solve crimes in the country. Making his presentation entitled, 'DNA: Solving Crimes the Scientific Way', at the Jamaica Young Scientists Forum (JYSF), held at Jamaica House on May 28,...

The Ministry of Health, on May 28, continued its series of workshops geared at educating health professionals about the needs of persons with disabilities, at its Downtown Kingston offices. Consultant Advisor on a special project for the disabled in the Ministry of Health, Floyd Morris, explained that the training health professionals are receiving through these workshops, will enable them to...

A new mental health centre, complete with three consultation rooms and a waiting area, was officially opened on May 28 in Greater Portmore, St. Catherine. The only facility of its kind in the community, it was constructed with the assistance of the United States of America military, under its project, Beyond The Horizon. Speaking at the handing-over ceremony, Director of...

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ministers of Health and Education will be involved in two meetings in Montego Bay, Jamaica next week. First they will convene the Eighteenth Meeting of the CARICOM Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) and then will meet with their Latin American counterparts in preparation for a meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)....

Several reggae, gospel and dancehall artistes will be performing at the charity event, MUSIC in the name of LIFE on Saturday, May 30, 2009 at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre. Music in the name of LIFE is a benefit family-concert, to fundraise $2.5 million for Martha's House in Central Kingston, operated by the Mustard Seed Communities which suffered loss of...

Despite early morning rains, and intermittent mid-morning showers, there was a full turnout of participants for the Ministry of Health's Labour Day project, which was the beautification of the Comprehensive Health Centre located on Slipe Pen Road in Kingston. The scheduled activities included landscaping and painting, planting of fruit trees and vegetable plots at various sections of the compound by...

The male ward at the Black River Hospital in St. Elizabeth has been remodelled at a cost of $1.5 million, with the contribution of the Friends of the Black River Hospital. At an opening ceremony on Thursday May 21, President of the group, Eleanor Evans, said they were able to accomplish the project through co-operation from members and donors. "We...

The Registrar General's Department (RGD) is moving to introduce online bedside registration in hospitals and clinics soon, to facilitate real time registration of births in these facilities, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Patricia Holness, has said. Speaking with JIS News, Dr. Holness noted that while regular bedside registration has facilitated 100 percent recording of all births in hospitals and clinics,...

Chairman of the Jamaica Association of Full Gospel Churches, Bishop Rohan Edwards, has said that since the implementation of the Government's free health care policy, the number of persons seeking financial assistance from the church for medical care has declined. In an interview with JIS News, Bishop Edwards said that the free health care policy has helped "because some people,...

Scores of students of the Port Antonio Infant School in Portland were immunised at a health fair organised by the institution's Guidance and Counselling Unit in collaboration with the Portland Health Department. At the fair, held on the school grounds on May 14, parents also benefitted from health checks including blood sugar and blood pressure tests. Speaking to JIS News,...