Dr. Christopher Tufton: Service Beyond Self

A life devoted to public service; the story of Dr. Christopher Charles Tufton is one of unwavering commitment to Jamaica.

Driven by a sense of duty to country, he has served as an educator, politician, minister of government and mentor, dedicating his life to improving the condition of his fellow citizens.

For his outstanding and important work in public health and governance, Dr. Tufton has been conferred with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD).

The award will be officially presented on National Heroes’ Day, October 20, 2025, during the national investiture ceremony.

The Minister of Health & Wellness and Member of Parliament for St. Catherine West Central, he was previously the Minister of Industry, Investment & Commerce (June 2011-December 2011) and Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (November 2008 – June 2011).

Dr. Tufton’s journey began in Manchester, where he was rooted in community, faith and discipline.

From climbing mango trees, to being shaped by Sunday school lessons of empathy, forgiveness and love, the modality of the village raising a child has served him well.

“You could run from one house to the next, and the benefit of that is that you have a larger community of friends to play with, to shoot birds, to build a hut, to cook a pot in the bush. You can eat two or three dinners on a typical day if you want to, moving from one house to the next; it was good,” Dr. Tufton tells JIS News in recalling his childhood.

Those early lessons of discipline and community served him well at Manchester High School, where he was very involved in school life, serving as head boy in his final year.

He worked for a year at Alcan before attending the University of West Indies (UWI). After completing advanced studies in the United States (US), he came back to the island to lecture and then went to England where he did his doctorate.

“In the initial stages, I would never have been able to afford [my studies]. I had to work before I went to university. I got scholarships to pursue my three degrees and all of that is a function of just being focused and determined,” Dr. Tufton tells JIS News.

“Hopefully, my academic path will say to other youngsters coming up that anything is possible if you set your mind to it,” he says.

Dr. Tufton is grateful for the life experiences gained along the way, and the exposure to different cultures, to different places in the world. He believes that education does not only happen in the classroom.

“I believe in life skills, if you can play a musical instrument, if you can speak a foreign language, if you can swim, if you can do a particular sport, and combine that with your academics and your career interests. What that does is make you rounded and a rounded individual can survive far better than one who doesn’t expose themselves,” he contends.

“I encourage people to travel and to expose themselves to different cultures because we tend to get bogged down into thinking that our way is the only way. It breeds a level of [isolation], and you end up not getting a better sense of the real world. The real world is not made up of a monoculture, it’s multicultural, and increasingly with technology and travel and all that, if you can’t coexist through partnerships, through tolerance, and so on, you end up having more conflict,” he argues further.

At the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Dr. Tufton’s visionary leadership has transformed policy into action, bringing wellness to the centre of public health.

“What I came to realize very quickly as a social scientist was that the human behaviour component in the context of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which are lifestyle diseases, is as important as the clinical sciences,” he tells JIS News.

“In health, you either prevent or you cure. Prevention is always cheaper than cure and better than cure,” he points out.

“So, we try to nudge people towards more health-seeking behaviour. That’s why I have a nutrition policy, sugary-drink restriction in school, Jamaica Moves for exercise, and an executive chef [at the Ministry] to prepare more nutritious meals,” he tells JIS News.

“We want to get people to live lives that promote wellness,” he adds.

During the pandemic, when the world faced its gravest health crisis in a century, Dr. Tufton led from the front.

He was there on the frontlines with the health workers, accompanying them as they went into communities, observing and supporting their work in preventing the spread of the virus and providing essential care.

Locally, the virus claimed about 3,000 lives, but on a per capita basis, Jamaica had fewer deaths than many other countries.

“It affected your own mental state, and you had to withdraw and find ways to recover. But that’s the essence of leadership; you have to lead,” Dr. Tufton says.

Beyond his ministerial role, Dr. Tufton is an author, teacher, and mentor — inspiring others to dream, to achieve, and to serve.

“He has his own charities that I know that he has been serving even outside of government and helping those who are in need, those who are vulnerable,” new State Minister in the Ministry, Hon. Krystal Lee, tells JIS News.

“So, service has always been a part of his life and of course, he has made significant contributions in the educational system as well, being a lecturer for many years,” she adds.

Miss Lee says that as Health Minister, Dr. Tufton has been “transformative.”

“We have seen new health centres, new hospitals being built, and of course, changing the whole look of the Health and Wellness Ministry and he continues to do very good work,” she says.

Permanent Secretary, Errol Green, hails Dr. Tufton as an outstanding leader.

“I felt that his leadership over the years in the Ministry of Health has been exceptional. He leads from the front. He is passionate about his job, and he commands a lot of respect in international circles. Whenever I go to conferences and occasions overseas, his name is mentioned with awe. He is looked to for guidance, and he is well-respected among his peers across the world,” Mr. Green tells JIS News.