WESTERN BUREAU -
JAMAICA on Friday captured the lion's share of the Pan American Health Organisation's (PAHO) annual Caribbean media awards for excellence in health journalism.
Of the 11 prizes that the judges awarded, Jamaica received five; Belize, two; Trinidad and Tobago two; Grenada, one and Barbados, one.
The awards ceremony - the eighth - was staged at the Grand Barbados Beach Resort.
The Gleaner won the media house prize for producing the best health page in the region - "Profiles in Medicine". The Gleaner's Pat Roxborough also won the award for best feature article/series for her probe into the spate of suicides that have been taking place in the Caribbean.
Erica James-King, a sub-editor employed to Irie FM radio here, collected PAHO's prize for the best radio documentary/feature, the overall prize for excellence in health journalism, as well as a special prize from UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) for "Deep Trouble", a series of features on the impact of the deadly HIV/AIDS virus on children in the Caribbean.
Other awardees included Belize's Dawn Sampson, who won a special award from UNIFEM (United Nation's Development Fund for Women) for a powerful television documentary featuring a woman who described in detail the horrors she suffered at the hands of a rapist.
Trinidad and Tobago's Radio Toko team took the prize for the best news story with their exposé of the effect that a powercut had on the operations of one of the country's hospitals, while Grenada's Francis Peters and Barbados's Sanka Price took prizes for the best highlight of drug awareness and best health coverage, respectively.
