It's All About Jamaica

WHAGWAN, Welcome to Jamaica!

This paradise is right in our backyard but it often gets overlooked. The vast amount of culture and love is overwhelmingly healing. The motto is out of many, one people. Even through trials and tribulation, the community is all about coming together for one another. The former, enslaved nation gained its independence from Britain in 1962 (Factbook, 2015). Today, Jamaica is home to about 2,950,210 people. English is the base language but Patois, English-based creole, is what you are most likely to hear. Jamaica is a small country, south of Cuba, its approximately 10,991 square kilometers, which in retrospect is about the size of Connecticut. (Factbook, 2015) this land, despite its size, has a lot to offer. The grounds are made up of beautiful mountains alongside scattered plains. At 2,256 meters above sea level sits Jamaica precious blue mountain peak. It happens to be the highest point throughout the island. Like most tropical islands in the Caribbean, the climate here is hot and humid. They are able harvest natural resources such as bauxite, gypsum, and limestone. However, they survive off the agricultural resources Jamaica offers, which includes: sugarcane, coffee, bananas, citrus, yams, ackees, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk; shellfish (Factbook, 2015).

Health Indicators

There has been a shift in the leading cause of death in adults over the past few decades from come to non-communicable diseases. The leading cause of death today in Jamaica is stroke which accounts for 16.5%. Following closely behind that is ischemic heart disease at 11%, diabetes mellitus at 10.8%, HIV/AIDS at 6.6%, and hypertensive heart disease at 5.5%. The change in their lifestyle has contributed greatly to this cause. According to Jamaica’s health and lifestyle survey, this impact is due to risk factors such as, the populations decrease in physical activity, raised blood pressure, raised blood glucose, obesity, tobacco use, and unhealthy, high diets in carbohydrates such as rice, potatoes, and bread (Jamaica, 2010). The rate of people who have died from stroke and hypertensive heart disease have stayed relative the same since 2000. However, diabetes and ischemic heart disease has increased compared to the past. They aren’t only harming the people but they’re affecting the economy as well. It cost the government more than 3 billion dollars on hypertension and diabetes alone (Jamaica, 2010). But, of all these HIV/AIDS has decreased, which means more people are taking this disease more seriously and the proper precautions are being taken.

On the other hand, 48% of children die before they reach five. The infant mortality rate in Jamaica is 13.69 deaths per 1000 live births, which has steadily declined through the years (WHO, 2015). They’re getting closer and closer to their millennium goal of 10 deaths per 1000 live births. The top two causes of death happen to be prematurity (25%), and congenital anomalies (23%). The current deaths are all start with the perinatal period, which could be due to the fact that the woman don’t often get prenatal treatment and lack the ability to detect these issues ahead of time. However, though the cause of prematurity and congenital anomalies are unknown, there are a variety of possibilities. For instance, genetics, maternal nutritional status, infections, environment, and socioeconomic factors could have played a major role.

References

Darwinek. (2015). Flag map of Jamaica [Web image]. Retrieved October 20, 2015, from

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag-map_of_Jamaica.svg

“Factbook: Jamaica,” (2015). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/jm.html

Jamaica Country Cooperation Strategy. (2010). Retrieved October 1, 2015, from http://www.who.int/countryfocus/cooperation_strategy/ccs_jam_en.pdf

Moya, A. (2008). Yellow Orange Flowers in Jamaica [Web image]. Retrieved October 20, 2015, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/alfredmoya/4122829434

WHO statistical profile. (2015). Retrieved October 1, 2015, from http://www.who.int/gho/countries/jam.pdf?ua=1

#jamaica #carribean #island #photo #flowers