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World and Olympic Sprint Champion, Usain Bolt, has taken another step towards improving his community of Sherwood Content, Trelawny, by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for refurbishing and maintaining the community's health centre. The MOU was signed Wednesday (March 31) with the Ministry of Health and the National People's Co-operative Bank of Jamaica Limited (NPCB), at the Development Bank...

The administration's efforts to phase out ozone depleting substances will continue this year with $7 million provided in the 2010/11 Estimates of Expenditure. The Montreal Protocol for the Phasing out of Ozone Depleting Substances project, which commenced in March, 1997, is aimed at developing measures to address illegal trade of ozone depleting substances (ODS). In addition, it collates ODS consumption...

Groups most at risk for contracting HIV are being targeted under a programme funded by the United States Agency for International development (USAID), as outlined in the 2010/11 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House. The HIV Prevalence in Most-at-Risk Population Reduced programme, which lasts from October, 2009 to September, 2014, will this financial year receive $118.1 million. The overall...

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sheila Campbell-Forrester, is encouraging parents to promote healthier lifestyles choices in the home, including proper diet and regular exercise. These healthy practices, she noted, will reduce the risk of obesity in children, which is a primary risk factor for developing diabetes and other chronic illnesses. "The prevalence of unhealthy eating...

The Government has allocated $136.1 million in the 2010/11 Estimates of Expenditure, for the maintenance and upgrading of health facilities across the island. Some $88 million will be spent on the Health Facilities Improvement Programme, which is an ongoing project for maintaining and upgrading the buildings and equipment of health care institutions. The provision will also facilitate works to be...

The Ministry of Health has set aside $4 million this year for a project, aimed at improving reproductive health practices among adolescent youth. This figure is earmarked for the Improved Health Status among Youth and Most Vulnerable Groups project, outlined in the 2010/11 Estimates of Expenditure tabled in the House of Representatives on March 25. The project, which was supported...

The Government is set to continue its drive to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Jamaica with a budgetary allocation of $288 million for the Jamaica HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control II project in 2010-2011. With funding support from the World Bank, the project aims to curb the spread of HIV, improve treatment, care and support for persons living with HIV/AIDS...

The St. Ann Health Department is aiming to reduce the number of cases of gastroenteritis occurring in the parish. Medical Officer of Health for the parish, Dr. Patrick Wheatle, confirmed that the increase in cases was picked up by the surveillance programme. He was speaking at the North East Regional Health Authority's World Water Day Exhibition, at the Ocean Village...

The Atlanta-Montego Bay Sister Cities Committee will host its annual fund-raising brunch on Sunday, March 21, at the Atlanta City Hall Atrium, downtown, Georgia. Jamaica's Honorary Consul in Atlanta, Mr. Vin Martin, who also chairs the Sister City Committee, told JIS News that proceeds will be used to offset the cost of the annual health mission to Montego Bay in...

The Legal Medicine Unit is now conducting autopsies on all week days (Mondays - Fridays), according to a release from the Ministry of National Security, issued on Wednesday (March 17). Conducting daily autopsies is part of efforts to make the operations of the Unit more efficient, and reduce the backlog of cases. Previously, autopsies were done two or three days...

Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Senator Aundre Franklin, is in Brazil attending the five-day Second Latin-American Conference on Sanitation being held in Foz Do Iguacu, March 14 to 18. Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Senator Aundre Franklin The theme of the conference is, "Universal Sustainability of Sanitation". It will focus on the challenges of efficiency in...

The Ministry of Health is committed to the improvement of the health of Jamaicans, as part of its obligations under the Millennium Development Goals and Vision 2030, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Jean Dixon, has said. "This is why the Government saw it necessary to open up access to health care to the entire population," she said, adding that...