Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Fenton Ferguson has indicated that Jamaica is making strides and has seen successes in the area of child health. Minister Ferguson was speaking recently at the Global Social Observatory’s Afternoon Tea event in Geneva, Switzerland.

The GSO is an international multi-stakeholder group whose mission is to facilitate dialogue and disseminate information on social issues in order to encourage stakeholders to engage in a broadened search for solutions and policy coherence.

Minister Ferguson said there has been a vast reduction in the prevalence of a number of childhood illnesses. For example, the last case of polio was in 1982, the last case of locally transmitted measles was in 1991, the last case of diphtheria was in 1995 and the last case of rubella or German measles was in 2000.

In addition the infant mortality rate has moved from 32 per 1000 live births in the 1970s to 21 per 1000 live births presently.

Dr. Ferguson added that the development of the child health and development passport, a comprehensive take home record of a child’s health and development from birth to 17 years, will result in further improvement in the infant and child mortality rate as well as overall child health.

The passport will record among other things, growth rates and immunization data which will not only help parents but will also assist our planning process. Importantly, the data will facilitate timely interventions by health workers and parents to enhance the development of children.

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Contact: MOH, Public Relations Unit Tel: 967-1561