Social Impact with Emma » United Nations : A Jamaica Gleaner Blog

Road Safety Matters: Is Your Vehicle Safe?

July 9th, 2020

“We enter this world without spare parts!” Director of the Road Safety Unit at the Ministry of Transport and Mining, Mr. Kenute Hare, has a marvelous way with words. He was presenting the second in a series of webinars on road safety, focusing on safe vehicles (which do have spare parts, unlike humans). The event […]

COVID-19 and Talking to the Press in Jamaica

May 5th, 2020

Many of us might not have noticed it: Sunday, May 3 was World Press Freedom Day 2020. The theme was Journalism Without Fear or Favour. The day is usually observed with some kind of public forum organized by the Press Association of Jamaica. With the pandemic on, obviously that was not possible. The Prime Minister […]

WASH Your Hands in the Time of COVID-19

March 16th, 2020

I know we have all been overwhelmed by the news and the latest developments, both globally and locally. I have been veering from one press briefing to another; from late-night updates tweeted by Minister of Health and Wellness Christopher Tufton, to alarming global news on the virus. Europe seems to be the new epicenter. I […]

Tourism’s Fragility Exposed

February 29th, 2020

I am not an economist (and I may well be corrected by my friend and fellow blogger Dennis Jones, who is!) but recent developments have given me the sense that Jamaica depends too heavily on two areas: Tourism and Bauxite Mining (an unsustainable activity – how much longer do we plan to go on mining? […]

Didn’t We Just Forget World Toilet Day?

November 20th, 2019

World Toilet Day is a rather awkward title for a very important day. One imagines the whole world sitting on a toilet. Of course, that is the point. The whole world is not sitting on a toilet. In fact, 4.5 billion people do not have access to proper (by proper, I mean safe) sanitation and 2.3 billion […]

Civil Society Collaborates to Influence Health Policy for Mothers and Infants

November 10th, 2019

As I entered the quiet, cozy Alhambra Inn recently, I stopped to look at the beautiful koi carp swirling in the water near the entrance. I was prepared to be inspired, not only by these majestic fish. Why? Because I was attending a meeting organized by the Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC). I know […]

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