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The competencies of 40 community health aides (CHAs) have been significantly enhanced with their successful completion of the Ministry of Health’s training/certification programme. Implemented at a cost of over $8 million, the project sought to improve the CHA’s contribution to the nation’s primary health care system. Sixteen assessors/trainers also completed the programme. The participants were presented with their certificates on...

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Derrick Kellier, says he is pleased with the progress of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), having successfully reached its 46th Anniversary. “We recognise and salute those who were instrumental in the development of this scheme 46 years ago, and also those who continued the journey, which over the years, has benefitted thousands of...

Minister with responsibility for Information, Senator the Hon. Sandrea Falconer, says the policy of the government, since assuming office on January 5,   is to ensure that its communication is open, timely, clear, effectively managed and responsive to the needs of the people. In order to promote a government that is visible, accessible and accountable to the public, communicators from all...

"Trashable to Cashable" was the focus of Friday's (April 20) Earth Day Exhibition, which was staged by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) at the Hope Zoo in Kingston. Chairman of the EFJ, Professor Dale Webber explained that the exhibition challenged schools from across Jamaica to showcase innovative ways of positively contributing to the environment, through methods such as: recycling,...

Financial Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Dr. Wesley Hughes, has underscored the need for inclusiveness in the implementation of the National Development Plan, Vision 2030 Jamaica, to ensure the country’s timely and sustainable progression towards developed country status within 18 years. He warns that failure to include all stakeholders, whom the plan will impact, could derail the efforts towards...

Financial Secretary, Dr. Wesley Hughes, has underscored the need for citizens to pay their taxes and for these resources to be prudently managed, in ensuring attainment of the goals and provisions of the country’s National Development Plan, Vision 2030 Jamaica. The fulfillment of statutory obligations by the citizenry, he argued, as well as fiscal prudence at the administrative level, will...

More than 150 stakeholders will, over the next two days, participate in a country assessment and national prioritisation workshop on the National Development Plan, Vision 2030 Jamaica. The participants include members of the public and private sectors, civil society, academia and the international development community. Slated for the Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston from April 11 to 12, the forum...

As Jamaica strives to strengthen its social safety net, the Registrar General's Department (RGD) continues to play a vital role in this thrust, by providing civil registration documents to vulnerable households, through several birth registration initiatives islandwide. One of the initiatives is the PATH Beneficiary Identification System, an agreement between the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) and the...

Noted Attorney- at -Law, and Head of the Michael Manley Foundation, Delano Franklyn, has made a call for greater consensus among stakeholders around critical issues in order for Jamaica to gain developed status by the year 2030. “To develop and have greater consensus on matters in Jamaica, we must have the different stakeholders, including the political parties signing off on...

The findings of a diagnostic study designed to review the capacity of the State to “prepare wards of the state for independent living,” were released Thursday March 29. The objectives of the study were: to identify “intervening variables that contribute to, or prevent successful re-integration into the wider society for former wards of the state; conduct a social assessment of...

State Minister for Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Sharon Ffolkes-Abrahams, says a Green Paper on the draft Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) and Entrepreneurial Policy could be tabled in Parliament as early as April. Speaking at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Department of Management Studies’ research symposium, entitled: ‘Managing Small Firms that have Gone Public', held at...

Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (STEM), Hon. Phillip Paulwell, while seeking to restore the bauxite and alumina industry to its pre-eminent position, has his eyes sharply focused on “unleashing the potential of Jamaica’s limestone." During his recent introductory meeting with the newly installed Clarendon Alumina Productions Board at the offices of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute in Kingston, the...