Despite the economic hardships, the health indicators in Jamaica have been reasonably stable due to improvements in Primary Healthcare delivery as well as in the quality of life.  Life expectancy at birth has increased marginally since 2000 from 75.6 to 76.29 years in 2005, (females 78.45, males 74.23)³.

Total fertility rate (TFR) for Jamaica has seen a reduction from 2.8 births per woman in 2000 to 2.4 births per woman in 2005, estimates were derived from UNICEF report published on the World Wide Web. The same survey of 1997 revealed that the NE Region had the highest level of fertility with TFR of 3.5 births per woman.

Jamaica has a crude death rate of 8/1,000 (2005) versus 2.4/1,000 for the NE Region (2005), with a population of 358,430. The parishes in the NE Region registered crude death rates (2005) of 1.6 (5.6/2000) for Portland, 2.2 (6.0/2000) for St. Mary and 2.8 (6.8/2000) in St. Ann. The infant mortality rate for Jamaica is approximately 20.6/1000 live births (2005)³. In 2005, 72 infant deaths were registered in the region.  This represents a 37.4% reduction from the 2000 figure of 115 cases. The 2005 figure represents a crude infant mortality of 12.4 per 1000 live births.

In 2005, hospitals in the region reported 5,907 (6,294/2000) deliveries, with an outcome of 5799 (6,258/2000) live births. The average Perinatal Mortality Rate for the region was 27.9/1000 births, which was similar to the rate in 2000. However, early neonatal mortality moved from 8.6/1000 live births in 2000 to 9.8 in 2005.  Five maternal deaths were reported giving a maternal death rate of 86.2/100,000 live births. The following table (Table # 6) shows the leading causes of morbidity, hospital mortality and infant mortality.

HIV / AIDS

NERHA: Total No. of HIV?AIDS cases were (241 ) in 2005. 

St Ann: There were (193) cases of AIDS in 2005. St Ann indicated the highest in NERHA. 

St Mary: Four (4) cases were reported and three (3) AIDS cases were confirmed. One Pediatric AIDS was observed in St Mary in 2005. 

Portland: Reported AIDS cases were (45) and all were confirmed in 2005.

Hotel Surveillance

There were eleven (11) outbreaks among Guests and one (1) outbreak among Staff in properties with five or more cases above endemic level in 2005. (Annex-2 a)

The number of outbreaks recorded for Guests and Staff with five or more cases above endemic level increased in 2005 when compared to 2004 but decreased when compared to 2003.

There were fifteen (15) outbreaks among Guests and one (1) outbreak among Staff in properties with one or more cases above endemic level in 2005. (Annex-2 b)

It was decreased when compared to 2004 and over 2003.

NORTH EAST HEALTH REGION

Leading Causes of Morbidity, Hospital Mortality, Maternal and Infant Mortality – 2005

* Second Leading Causes of Infant Mortality

  Source: Planning and Evaluation Unit-MOH

Immunization coverage for NERHA between January 2000 and December 2005

BCG: Coverage over the period fluctuated but showed gradual increases in the 2004 and 2005

OPV: Similar scenario when compared to BCG but shows a slightly lesser coverage in 2005

Penta.: Coverage persisted in 70s between 2002/2004 but climb back to the 80s in 2005

MMR: Other than 2003 (69.55%), coverage over the period was in the low 80s.

HIV / AIDS NERHA 2005

NERHA: Total no. of reported HIV cases - 198

  Total no. of reported AIDS cases - 33

  Total no. of Paediatrics AIDS cases – 6

*The figures given are not definite as parishes did not report consistently over the quarters

Geographical Location  Regional Profile     Demographic Profile    Environmental Profile    Health Delivery System

Health Infrastructure    Organization Structure    Socio- Economic Profile   Footnotes and Annexes