Having just read on Essence.com about the gang-rape of an 11-year old, I wanted to use this time highlight the case of Shanice Jemmot, a young Dominica who’s been missing for more than a month. There is a $35,000 reward for information on here whereabouts. And, the government has enlisted the assistance of French officials after obtaining information that she may be in Guadeloupe.

Anyone in Dominica, Guadeloupe or any other islands who think they may have seen this young lady should contact their respective police departments immediately.

To find out more about the case visit: http://dominicanewsonline.com/dno/government-seeks-french-assistance-in-locating-shanice-jemmott/

I’m cross-posting this comment I made on the Dominica News Online website because it gets at my frustration with the entire news system:

As much as I enjoy visiting this DNO, I often get frustrated for what passes as news. When a minister makes statements such as this, including the other article on ‘buggery’, I implore DNO to give the people of Dominica as much information as possible and stop posting these simple ‘press releases’. For one, the Strategic Health Plan is available in 2 volumes, with one being the Situation Analysis touched on in the ‘buggery’ article. I was able to obtain electronic copies by simply sending an e-mail to the ministry of health after a previous ‘article’ on the subject. And this leads to my second point, it would help is DNO linked previous ‘articles’ to current ones to give an accurate picture of the situation. I wanted to see for myself what’s in the document because of my interest in public health. And thus my last point, DNO could either make the document available to the public to put aside questions of availability and so we can move the conversation forward to whether they can actually accomplish what’s been stated or give people ways to get the documents.

In my first epidemiology class today, Vic gave an example about how the lack of knowledgeable public health officials within a given society can be detrimental to those within the population. Taken from the book “Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health” the anecdote explored the bubonic plague in India in the early 1990’s and how difficult it was for medical and health officials to identify the disease. One of the ‘interesting’ facts about the topic was that the Minister of Health was not a physician. This is not to say that only physicians should hold the position. It is to say that those we choose to represent us within government should have, at the very least, some knowledge of the field they represent.

And this brings me to a an article today on Dominica News Online. The Minister of Health  for Dominica, according to the article, “blames some social problems on marijuana.” There are several things wrong with this thesis. But for now, I will say that from the article, as well as from responses to the article, it is clear that the Minister knows very little about the links between marijuana and its effects on youth. Additionally, he goes on to say that during his youth, many parents had “some alcohol” and that “We did not have that in out time”, referring to the many problems that young people face today. The link between alcohol consumption and its associated problems are well noted. So, for a Minister of Health to dismiss alcohol as a cause for social problems while implicating marijuana shows a great irresponsibility on his part as well as a lack of good judgement about what ails society.

Cases of sexual abuse are the highest forms of abuse committed against Dominica’s children this year, according to the Welfare Division.

via Child sex abuse cases rising by the month – official | Dominica News Online.