Hard truths

THE latest review of Jamaica’s public health sector presents a mixed bag of progress and troubling setbacks, with improvements in infrastructure and staffing overshadowed by soaring medicine costs, weaknesses in primary health care, and persistently high maternal and neonatal deaths.

Most alarming is the finding that complications from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for nearly four in every five deaths in Jamaica, while too many patients are turning up at hospitals with conditions already at an advanced stage.

The findings are contained in the Jamaica Health Public Expenditure Review, prepared by the World Bank at the request of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and the Ministry of Health and Wellness, covering the years 2016 to 2022.