Jamaica to Receive EU Health Grant

Above: Kingston (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica will be receiving approximately $25.3 million USD in health funding from the European Union, according to Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson.

The funding will focus on maternal and pediatric care in the country’s public health institutions.

Some of the allocation will go toward supporting Jamaica’s push to meet the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

Part of the funding will also fund the establishment of six “high-dependency units” for newborn babies, Ferguson said, along with five maternal units, over a five-year period.

Of the total $25.3 million, around $1.9 million will support the “repair and upgrade” of several public health institutions in Jamaica in St Ann, St Mary and Portland.

The largest of those will be the Claremont Health Centre in St Ann, which will continue work to develop the centre into a “centre of excellence.”