Breast milk is the best food babies can get during the first six months. However, many babies don’t benefit from this best start in life: on average, women in Jamaica breastfeed exclusively for only about 3 weeks. In the first 1,000 days of life, a baby’s brain develops the fastest – a process which benefits… Read more →←
Young women and girls who are HIV positive are often victims of repeat victimisation. Many were sexually abused as children, and were shunned after trying to name their abusers, who are often family members. For them, stigma against persons living with HIV is one more thing to overcome. Alicia (alias), shares her story below about… Read more →←
Oneil Williams was just six years-old when he was killed while crossing the road on his way home from school in St. Ann. The last his father Devon saw of his son was a small hand waving goodbye. What compounded this tragedy was that the school Oneil was attending, Brown’s Town Primary School, was chosen by his conscientious father so… Read more →←
Watching this video you can see my emotions. In some way I felt as helpless as the children in state care involved in these critical incidents that I was reading about. “April 27: Two wards got into a fight after a rap session. One girl came behind the other with a broken wine glass and stabbed her over the eye. The other twisted… Read more →←
One of the most enlightening father-to-child stories I have witnessed was the evolution of a particular young man as he took on his responsibilities to his son. I would see the man with his son in his arms as he walked briskly past my gate every morning, to be on time for school at Mona Heights Primary. Eventually, that man bought a… Read more →←
We interviewed 3,400 Jamaican fathers for the JA Kids 2011 Birth Cohort Study, and we listened to them. We asked them about how they felt about their children; and we asked them about how they felt about raising children and about what it was like being a father. We were impressed with the support of Jamaican fathers. Sure, there are… Read more →←
Most – if not all – conversations in Jamaica about youth exclude them from the discussion. Launching U-Report Jamaica recently gave me a “wow” moment: I realised this is finally a chance for youth to take charge of the narrative and start their own conversations. More than 1,300 young people have already signed up to become… Read more →←
Not many people know this, but my degree from UTech was in Child and Adolescent Development. So I know about the benefits of breastfeeding and it’s always been something I wanted to do when I was ready to be a mother. So it’s doubly important for me as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador that more mothers are able to breastfeed. We’re… Read more →←
Usually when I arrive at school, there are about five or six students who are waiting for me at my office door. Oftentimes they start unloading even before I open up. Most times my breakfast is left uneaten. Effortville Primary is their safe haven; the place where they can enjoy their childhood without fear. After traumatic events of the… Read more →←
Being a daughter of St. Ann, it was heartening to travel down to see Alexandria Community Hospital get certified as baby-friendly. This is a wonderful first for the parish! Alexandria and Princess Margaret in St. Thomas are now the only two hospitals in Jamaica officially designated as baby-friendly. Being baby-friendly is about ensuring… Read more →←
