Posted on in Family Communication, In the News

Controversial sexual awareness curriculum in Jamaican schools

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Video link: http://televisionjamaica.com/Programmes/PrimeTimeNews.aspx/Videos/20800

From the news story:

” Some parents are taking issue with the sexual awareness unit of the newly introduced health and family life education curriculum produced by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with UNICEF. They say the questions being asked and some of the exercises suggested for students from grade 7 through 9 are highly inappropriate”

The news story was quite interesting, and although I believe that it is important to expose and educate young persons about sex and sexuality I can understand the concern stirred among parents and teachers. I wondered if much of this material was not influenced by the funding partner UNICEF and how much effort was taken to assess the local culture in dealing with some of these matters. Was there a focus group of Jamaican parents who approved this publication?

What are your thoughts?

Posted on in New Media, Social Entrepreneurship/Innovation

In search of…apps for health

Can someone please create an app that shows HIV testing sites across the region. I am very serious. I started thinking about this around the time of this year’s Caribbean Regional HIV/AIDS Testing Day. (As an aside, I think we should include, and advertise, other STD testing as well.) The Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership and their LiveUp campaign did an excellent job of publicizing the dates and locations for testing. I saw notices pop up in my timeline and on my twitter feed. I knew which websites to go to for locations, and kept up-to-date on changing venues. We even wrote about it on this site. (more…)

Posted on in In the News

eSAC project launches website and Innovation Competition

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“We are convinced that access to health information is an integral aspect of human rights, requiring us to network with partners that will enable us to expand our local and regional capacities and thus multiply the available social capital in our countries.” Dr. Mirta Roses Periago, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The Public eHealth, Innovation and Equity Project (eSAC) will officially host its website launch on September 6 2012 at 9 a.m. EST. The eSAC project aims to contribute to the improvement of the health and wellbeing of marginalized population groups in Latin America and the Caribbean through the application of Public eHealth solutions. Participation in the launch webinar is free of charge and open to all. Be part of the eSAC conversation by accessing www.paho.org/virtual/KMC-ESAC at 9 am (EST) on September 6th!

The website launch event features a live webinar with main speaker, Dr. Alex Jadad, Chief Innovator and Founder at the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, Canada. Other speakers will include Marcelo D’Agostino from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Chaitali Sinha from the International Research Development Centre (IDRC). eSAC will also use this opportunity to promote its upcoming Innovation Competition, where individuals, teams and institutions in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region will be invited to submit proposals for the development of highly innovative, effective, and low-cost Public eHealth interventions.

eSAC Young Professionals (YPs) have been promoting the project in their home territories, attending various events and engaging interested persons through social media. Since last December, eSAC has hosted an eSAC tweetchat on Thursdays at 8pm EST. In addition to a special launch tweetchat on September 6, all the YPs will host sub-regional webinars as of the following week.

The eSAC project is jointly developed by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the University of Toronto and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Posted on in Inspiration, Interpersonal Communication

Don’t forget to relax

 

A few months ago, I found this poster on the website etsy.com that reminded me to relax. This is one of the notes I keep within sight at all times. This is important because I have a habit of being high strong, and my blood pressure has a habit of being high.

I found out I had elevated blood pressure while still a teenage. Right after migrating to the United States, one of my first medical acts was to go to a clinic at the same time every day for five straight days to check my blood pressure. The doctors were convinced I had high blood pressure. For the record, I don’t. From that time onwards, I would usually spit out my blood pressure reading even before the machine kicked out it’s numbers.  However, during the past few years, my blood pressure has been slowly going down due to lifestyle changes and I guess my attempts at relaxation. I’m still amazed when I see a low numbers.

As I start my doctorate and during this entire stage in life. I’ll have to remember to relax. It’ll be ok. And, my blood pressure will continue to thank me.

Like the message “keep calm and keep walking”, this is one of the simple mantras that can aid in better health. Sometimes, it’s the simplest communication messages that have the biggest impact (on our health).

Image source: http://www.yardgallery.com/product_specific.aspx?title=Prints%20JS&id=5597&dataid=663066