Four decades of valuable contribution

CONGRATULATIONS TO the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF) on this your 40th year of service in Jamaica. It has been four decades of valuable contribution to our adolescent mothers and, by extension, the future of this country. The health of our women and new-borns is of utmost importance. Your theme for this

DR CHRISTOPHER TUFTON

milestone ‘Reflecting on the past, repositioning for the future’ is most appropriate and fitting for the over 46,000 young ladies whose life you have already changed.

We recognise and appreciate that it is important that women, children and adolescents realise their rights to physical and mental health and well-being, have social and economic opportunities and are able to participate fully in shaping sustainable and prosperous societies. The objectives encompass:

Survive: by overcoming Thrive: by ensuring health and well-being, and Transform: by expanding enabling environments

The WCFJ assists in achieving the well-being and health for all women, children and adolescents to transform the future. We want to ensure that every adolescent who becomes pregnant not only delivers safely, but that there is a seamless transition back to full integration so that we will see them thrive.

Jamaica embraces an initiative called, ‘Every Caribbean Woman Every Caribbean Child’. It provides a platform for advocacy and action to focus on key social determinants of health that negatively influence the development of the Caribbean countries. Jamaica has as its priorities the reduction of teenage and adolescent pregnancy, cervical cancer, HIV/AIDS/TB, elimination of mother-to-child HIV

Itransmission, and human trafficking.

The criteria for continued support facilitates Jamaica achieving the objectives of this global strategy by ensuring that children age zero to six months must visit the health centre three times within a six-month period, which is once every two months. This is in keeping with the immunisation schedule which is stipulated by the Ministry of Health. Children between 12 and 71 months must visit the health centre twice per year, at six month intervals; children between ages six and 18 years must maintain a minimum school attendance record of 85 per cent; pregnant women must attend the health centre every two months, and lactating women must visit at six and 14 weeks postpartum.

We encourage our adolescents to abstain from sex, but we also care for the well-being of those young ladies who become pregnant for them to do their utmost to live healthy and prosperous lives.

DR CHRISTOPHER TUFTON Minister of Health