Thousands of persons are offered support by the Jamaica Cancer Society (JCS) in their fight against cancer and the JCS relies on the generosity of citizens, through donations and participation in its major annual fundraiser, ‘Relay for Life’. This year, for the first time in 19 years, the flagship fundraiser will be held virtually under the theme ‘Hope from Yaad’....

Jamaica’s healthcare sector will receive a massive boost with the establishment of a pharmaceutical sterile compounding laboratory at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona. The sterile compounding laboratory, which is the first of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean, will facilitate the preparation of medication that is customised to particular types of treatments and...

More than 700,000 Jamaicans in the parishes of St. Elizabeth, Manchester and Clarendon are to benefit from improved access to healthcare through the donation of $32 million by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund for the acquisition of surgical equipment for health facilities in the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA). The equipment, including surgical beds and tables,...

Residents are pleased with improved health services being offered at the Kenneth Baugh Health Centre in Point Hill, St. Catherine. The facility, formerly the Point Hill Health Centre, has been renamed in honour of the late Dr. Kenneth Baugh, who served as Minister of Health from 1980 to 1989, and Member of Parliament for West Central St. Catherine from 2002...

Parents and guardians are being implored to look out for signs that children may need additional support in coping mentally and emotionally during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A study conducted by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) Jamaica in 2020, in collaboration with the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI), on the impact of COVID-19 shows that most households reported increases...

The country’s early-childhood institutions have benefited from much-needed support to better enable them to operate within the health and safety guidelines stipulated by the Government to reduce transmission of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Through funding of $50 million from the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund, basic schools across the island have been equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE)...

Abi-Gaye Smythe has been on a continuous drive to collect blood for the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS), given that she is unable to donate blood but has been in need of the life-saving commodity. To date, her efforts have borne fruit with the collection of 184 units, which could save 552 lives in Jamaica.  This amount represents one of...

Member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) Working Group on COVID-19 Vaccines, Professor Peter Figueroa, says the AstraZeneca vaccine is very effective and safe for almost everyone to receive, including pregnant and breastfeeding women. Participating in an online forum on May 7, he points out that more than 100 million persons have received the...

The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) recently received a boost to its capacity to provide psychological support for children in State care. Electronic psychological assessment tools, valued at just over US$11,000, have been provided to the Agency under the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Network Infrastructure Expansion project, which is being implemented as part of the public-sector transformation...