Jamaica

PAHO Core Indicators 2019: Health Trends in the Americas, shows the following about Jamaica’s health profile:

• Life expectancy for men is 72 years for men and 76 years for women
• 63% of women and 47% of men are overweight. 8.3% of children under 5 are also overweight
• 15% of adolescents and 11% of adults currently use tobacco products
• 24% of men and 19% of women suffer from elevated blood pressure
• Infant mortality rate is 20.9 per 1000 live births

PAHO’s strategic health priorities for Jamaica are outlined in the organization’s Country Cooperation Strategy (2017 -2022); they include:

• The resilience of health systems strengthened within the framework of universal health
• An inclusive healthy lifestyle approach to address the health needs of the population advanced
• An integrated approach to address the social and economic determinants of health and health equity in support of sustainable development promoted
• The environment determinants addressed to build resilient communities

Similarly, the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ key priorities are included within their Vision 2030 for Health (2019 -2030). The high impact goals outlined in the strategic plan are as follows:

• Ensure a safe and a healthy start for newborns and infants
• Improve the health of the population with an emphasis on reducing mortality, morbidity and disability related to NCDs and their risk factors
• Reduce mortality, morbidity and disability due to communicable diseases
• Reduce mortality, morbidity and disability due to poor quality of health care
• Eliminate priority communicable diseases, including AIDS, tuberculosis, mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and congenital syphilis
• Eliminate neglected infectious diseases as public health problems
• Reduce the number of cases of death, disability and illness, with emphasis on protection of the poor and vulnerable populations affected by emergencies and disasters

Jamaica’s estimated population in 2019 was 2.9 million with a median age of 30 years.