Minister of Health, Dr. the Honourable Christopher Tufton, met with the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank to discuss Jamaica’s health challenges and possible partnerships that can be pursued between the banks and the government.
Minister Tufton discussed the current collaboration with both institutions on the development of the Ministry of Health’s ten year strategic plan and a benchmark cost study that is currently underway. Dr Tufton said “the discussions were fruitful as we explored new ways of possible collaboration to enhance the efficiency of service delivery as well as new strategic initiatives to improve service offerings.”
Some of the critical areas of focus in the discussions included the review of the Regional Health Authorities; strengthening the relationship between primary and secondary health care; the development of a national health information system; and national health insurance scheme.
Dr. Tufton included that “while Jamaica has done fairly well on key international indicators related to health, there are major challenges such as high levels of Non-Communicable Diseases; greater threat from vector borne diseases such as Zika and less than adequate diagnostic equipment and hospital beds given the size of our population and health risk profile.” Dr. Tufton added that “as a consequence, there is need for us to work with multilateral partners to confront these challenges.”
Minister Tufton was in Washington D.C. attending the PAHO Directing Council meeting which happens from September 26-30, 2016.