The Ministry of Health and Wellness has been provided with financial support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for the project, ‘Support for Health Systems Strengthening Programme for the Prevention and Care Management of NCDs’.

The programme has as its objectives to ‘improve the health of Jamaica’s population by strengthening comprehensive policies for the prevention of NCD risk factors and for the implementation of a chronic care model with improved access to strengthened and integrated primary and hospital services networks that provide more efficient and higher quality care’.

The programme is being implemented at a time when 1 in 3 Jamaicans have hypertension; 1 in 8 are living with diabetes; and 1 in 2 are overweight or obese – a known risk factor for NCDs, including cancer and respiratory disease.

Further, 4 out of every 10 Jamaicans are expected to suffer from a mental illness over the course of their life time while the suicide rate is approximately 2.1 / 100,000 with statistics from the Jamaica Constabulary Force showing between 47 and 56 deaths per year due to suicide over the last three years.