Business sector stakeholders remain optimistic that Jamaica can rebound from the economic fallout sparked by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, to record growth, beginning in fiscal year 2021/22. Industry leaders say their positive outlook is based on key provisions in the Government’s $830.8-billion Budget for the upcoming fiscal year and developments with COVID-19 vaccinations in Jamaica and main trading partners and...

While many elderly persons are now anxiously awaiting their coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, Dr. Denise Eldemire-Shearer, widow of Jamaica’s third Prime Minister, Hugh Lawson Shearer, considers herself lucky, given that she was the second person in the country to receive the jab, during the first day of inoculation on March 10. According to Dr. Eldemire-Shearer, a patron of the National Council...

University of Technology (UTech) graduates and junior engineers, Oshane Graham and Anna-Kaye French, are basking in the opportunity afforded to them by the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) to be observers on the construction of the current leg of Highway 2000. The two budding engineers are part of a mentorship programme by NROCC, which was born out of...

Children under the care of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) are now benefiting from improved psychotherapy intervention, through a recently introduced programme. Under the Trauma Informed Care Project, in which more than 40 of the agency’s staff members were trained to deliver the services developed by the United States-based Trauma Stress Institute (TSI), children with trauma-related issues...

Former ward of the State and Inaugural Identity (ID) Pioneers grant recipient for 2021, Newtana Jackson, says her determination to succeed can be attributed to the mentors who guided her throughout the years she spent at Maxfield Park Children’s Home, The 19-year-old young woman, who received the grant of $180,000 on March 2 from ID Pioneers, has her eyes set...

Several regional stakeholders have endorsed the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) e-Campus’ new online Caribbean Securities Trader Professional Certificate Programme. The three-tiered Programme, delivery of which commenced on March 7, comprises the FX (Foreign Exchange) Trader, Caribbean Securities, and Brokerage Operations Management courses. It is designed to ensure that participants are fully equipped with a broad understanding of operations within the...

Director of Family Health Services in the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW), Dr. Melody Ennis, is assuring Jamaicans of the safety and efficacy of the vaccines being brought into the island by the Government in the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Jamaica, on March 8, received a donation of 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India, and...

Teleworking, described as the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) to perform work outside of the traditional office setting, has become increasing popular globally, as employers ensure business continuity during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In Jamaica, this is no different, as the Government and several private sector entities have implemented work-from-home policies, as part of measures to contain the...

Medical Officer of Health for Westmoreland, Dr. Marcia Graham, says that take-up of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine in the parish has exceeded expectations. She tells JIS News that persons have been turning out at the Westmoreland Health Department and the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital, where the vaccine is being administered, to get their injections. The exercise started on Wednesday (March...