By Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterSPECIAL ENVOY for Children, Marjorie Taylor, is still out of commission, nearly two months after getting a stroke.
Speaking with The Gleaner via telephone yesterday, the Ambassador said she has no intention of leaving her post, despite stress and ill health which led to her being hospitalised in early July. Since then, she has been recuperating. She said yesterday she expects to resume work on November 1, 2003.
The necessity of Ms. Taylor's post as special envoy for children has been questioned in recent times. Persons have asked whether it would still be necessary once the Government establishes the post of Child Advocate who, it appears, will have similar duties.
Minister of Health, John Junor, has since sought to define and defend her role, stating that she and the Child Advocate will have different duties.
In October 2002, Ambassador Taylor was admitted to the UHWI where she underwent treatment for a stress-related illness. Officials at the Health Ministry said then that Ms. Taylor became stressed while making preparations for the 2000 staging of the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Children and Social Policy in the Americas.
