JAHEP Stages Inaugural Health Education and Promotion Week

Health Education and Promotion Officer at the St. Thomas Public Health Department, Carlene Douglas, says the inaugural Health Education and Promotion Week, which was observed from October 15 to 21, was a success.

It was organised by the Jamaica Association for Health Education and Promotion (JAHEP) and was held under the theme ‘Advancing Health Equity through Health Promotion and Education: Impact of Social Media and Misinformation on Health Communication’.

As part of this year’s Health Education and Promotion week, activities were held in the northeast region, hosted by the North East Regional Health Authority (NERHA).

Among the activities held during the week were a church service at the Bethel Tabernacle United Pentecostal Church in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, and a Webinar.

In an interview with JIS News, Mrs. Douglas highlighted that the theme was very important, as the function of the health education and promotion team is “the giving of health information, so anything that hinders the free flow of information and [fosters] the acceptance of misinformation is quite relevant to the group”.

“Many persons believe that if it is Google, it is correct information; everything they go to ‘Dr. Google’. So many persons are not interested in what is reputable or not, they just want persons to tell them so and so, and yes that’s it; they run with it,” she added.

Mrs. Douglas further outlined that social media is not the enemy, but rather a tool which can help to enhance the dissemination of correct information.

For next year’s Health Education and Promotion Week, Mrs. Douglas said the organisation is hoping to implement outreach activities.

“We also want to have a day where we focus on the group itself and do something together as a group, and, of course, the church service, but I think those three things we want to accomplish for next year. We also want the different regions to be responsible for the planning of each year,” she said.

“So, this year, the church service was held in the northeast region… next year we will use another region, and we could possibly look at having a conference during the week also,” Mrs. Douglas added.