By Claude Mills, Staff ReporterTHE FIGHT against cervical cancer in Jamaica got a major boost this week after the Cancer Control Jamaica project, headed by delegates attending the first-ever Jamaica Diaspora Conference, made a commitment to assist the local health care industry.
The agreement will forge a partnership between the Jamaica Cancer Society, the American Cancer Society and the Consulate General in New York to provide specialised medical expertise to aid the cervical cancer fight.
"We're going to be recruiting a number of radiologists and psychopathologists to come down to Jamaica to volunteer for a week's time to read the slides and radiology reports," Melissa Dunn-Wisdom, director of Community Health initiatives and health systems at the American Cancer Society, said.
The plan will kick-start Saturday with the arrival of 20-plus health care workers who were already scheduled to be here as part of a series of health fairs across the island. The initiative will now allow cervical cancer screenings to be performed on members of the public in Moore Town, Portland. The exercise will also take place in Westmoreland and Hanover next week.
"This is a short-term plan but in the future, we want to set up a partnership between a U.S. medical school and maybe UTech (University of Technology) or something of that nature to train psychopathologists, because in Jamaica, there are only two or three here now," Mrs. Dunn-Wilson said.
The two-day conference which was held at the Jamaica Confer-ence Centre in downtown Kingston ended yesterday.
