Using agriculture and land-based therapy to disrupt violence and criminal behaviour among young people is the aim of the Positive Pathways Initiative’s Social Agriculture programme, which was officially launched in the community of Flanker, St. James, on April 9. The programme is being executed by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through Democracy International, in collaboration with the Village...

The Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network (JYAN) has commended the Government, particularly the Ministries of Education and Youth, and Health and Wellness, for taking steps to address unhealthy eating in schools. Speaking at a recent JIS ‘Think Tank’, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator at the JYAN, Shereika Mills, said that “we all have to start taking steps to realise our Vision 2030...

The Anti-Dumping and Subsidies Commission (ADSC) has been giving Jamaican producers protection against unfair trading practices for more two decades and is gaining local and international recognition. Established 21 years ago, its mandate is to administrate the trade remedies regime in Jamaica, with a core function to defend productive and manufacturing activity on the island under the rules of international...

Students in the parish of Manchester are being channelled into positive pathways through the ‘Patriotism in Schools’ initiative, spearheaded by Custos of Manchester, the Hon. Garfield Green. This is part of the ‘Manchester Beliefs, Values, and Attitudes’ (BVA) which seeks to foster developmental morals and standards and social responsibility among citizens in the parish. Along with targeting young people, schools,...

Residents of St. James gathered on the grounds of St. James High School in Montego Bay, recently, to attend the Ministry of National Security’s inaugural ‘Together We Serve You’ Social Services Fair. Staged in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Youth, the fair was aimed at assisting the residents to access social services from organisations such as the Passport...

Local food manufacturers can look forward to increased opportunities in gaining access to overseas markets. This will be made possible through the recent application made by the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC) to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Accredited Third-Party Certification Programme. This is a voluntary programme in which the FDA recognises accreditation bodies that have...

The Office of the General Secretariat, Organization of American States (GS/OAS) in Jamaica has announced winners of this year’s Art and Poetry Competition. In the Art category, student at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Western Jamaica Campus, Sashane Smith, took first place for her piece, ‘Abandon Ship’, while former student of the St. Andrew High School for Girls,...

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is increasing efforts to get more eligible persons to sign up for the Government’s new Social Pension Programme. The $800-million initiative, launched last July, targets all Jamaican citizens 75 years and older, who are not currently in receipt of a pension (overseas or local) or any other retirement, old-age or disability benefit or...

After spending much of his earlier years in paediatricians’ offices, between the Bustamante Hospital for Children (BHC) and private medical centres for childhood asthma, Dr. Andrew Burton knew that he would become a paediatrician and set himself on a path to achieve his goal. The young Senior Registrar in the Paediatric Medicine Department at BHC tells JIS NEWS that his...