health
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Jamaica reeling under Chikungunya virus
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Sept 29, CMC – The Jamaica government has acknowledged that the outbreak of the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus is taking a toll on the country's education system with reports of a significant increase in student and teacher absenteeism. While unable to give exact figures, Education Minister Ronald Thwaites, said schools in the Corporate Area and eastern parishes were the…
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PAHO to launch mobile app to measure cardiovascular risk
WASHINGTON, Sep. 28, CMC – The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will on Monday launch a new app for mobile devices and computers that calculates the risk of cardiovascular disease among Caribbean nationals. The launch will take place in recognition of World Heart Day, celebrated yearly on September 29. The app is based on a World Health Organization (WHO)…
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CARICOM strengthens Chikungunya, Ebola response
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is formalizing recommendations to deal with any possible incidence of the Ebola virus and is ramping up efforts to respond to the Chikungunya epidemic. On Friday, 12 September, Chief Medical Officers and other technical health experts from CARICOM Member States met via video conference to rationalise the Region’s response to…
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Statement by Ambassador Irwin Larocque, Secretary-General Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on the Occasion of Caribbean Wellness Day 13 September 2014
The celebration of Caribbean Wellness Day continually reminds us of that historic moment when our Heads of Government pioneered that significant policy initiative known as the Declaration of Port-of-Spain on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). On the basis of scientific facts they raised their voices acknowledging that NCDs could imperil our economies like no other known health issue. The Declaration has the…
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Health Minister notes impact of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity
Health Minister Dr. Fenton Ferguson says the national burden posed by non-communicable diseases (NCD) constitute a major public health challenge, which undermines the country's social and economic development. Dr. Ferguson said recent national surveys showed an increase in the major behavioural risk factors and NCDs, such as hypertension, obesity and diabetes, among adults. The Minister emphasised that it is in…
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Caribbean urged not to be complacent about Ebola
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Friday September 12– No case of the deadly Ebola virus has yet been detected in the Caribbean. However, this is no reason for complacency. This is the word from Dr. James Hospedales , Executive Director of The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), as he addressed journalists at a regional press conference in Port-of-Spain Trinidad and Tobago. “The…
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Guyana’s investment in HIV/AIDS battle paying off- NAPS Director
Guyana’s prevalence rate of HIV has increased but that now indicates that more people are living rather than dying of the disease due to aggressive public education and greater access to treatment and care, Head of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat, Dr. Shanti Singh said. Singh said latest research shows that the prevalence rate is 1.4 percent or 7,700 persons…
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Wellness revolution’ continues at CARICOM Secretariat
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Headquarters of the Caribbean Community, the CARICOM Secretariat on Monday commenced a week of activities to commemorate Caribbean Wellness Day (CWD) 2014 and to sustain the ‘wellness revolution’ that began in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in September 2007. CWD will be observed on 13 September 2014. Ambassador Manorma Soeknandan, Deputy Secretary-General…
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Dominica screens West Africa students for Ebola Disease
Caribbean news. ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC)– Dominica says while it will not impose a travel ban on people coming from Africa, it will screen new students arriving here from West Africa where an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus has resulted in more than a thousand deaths. Chief Medical Officer, Dr David Johnson, speaking on the state-owned DBS radio, said that…
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Risk of Ebola in the Caribbean “Low”
Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, August 06, 2014: The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) says the risk of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) being imported to the Caribbean is low. Executive Director of CARPHA, Dr. C. James Hospedales said “There have been no confirmed cases of Ebola in the Caribbean, and overall, the risk of becoming infected with the Ebola virus…
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