- WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
A group of children performs a dance at the opening ceremony and concert of the Ocean Spray Jamaica Wellfest 2006, held at Emancipation Park in New Kingston on Friday.
Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter
THE DANCERS danced, the drummers drummed and the crowd moved to the rhythms, wellness personified. Emancipation Park was alive on Friday with the opening of the second Ocean Spray wellness festival.
Jared Konstanty, vice-president of Ocean Spray Inter-national, noted that Jamaica is the second-largest consuming country of Ocean Spray Cranberry juice. "This wellness festival is more than a wellfest, it is a celebration of Jamaican culture, health and wellness, cranberry and partnership," he said.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who was unable to make an appearance, said in a speech delivered by Bobby Pickersgill, Minister of Housing, Transport and Works said, "the idea of health must go beyond being disease free."
Noting that in the last 10 years, lifestyle illnesses have become the main cause of illness and death in Jamaica, she stated that, "the health sector spends a significant portion of its budget every year treating these diseases," the most common being obesity.
Applauding the Wellfest organisers for their inclusion of conflict resolution, the Prime Minister stated that 33 per cent of murders involve domestic violence in Jamaica.
"We are spending in the region of $1 billion in our hospitals to care for injured patients, 59 per cent of which is for violence- related injuries," she stated.
She added that the Ministry of Health is doing its part to reach different segments of the population, using non-traditional approaches in its promotion to include healthy lifestyles.
For his part, Councillor Lee Clarke, deputy mayor of Kingston and St. Andrew, remarked that programmes such as the wellfest should be encouraged so as to educate residents to take care of their health. He added that four more parks such as Emancipation Park need to be constructed to promote such festivals.
Director of Tourism, Paul Pennicook, commented that there is a growing desire among many Jamaicans to pursue good, healthy lifestyle practices. "We at the JTB fully support Wellfest 2006 as it seeks to build awareness of the value and benefits of healthy living and acts as a guide for persons wishing to pursue a path of wellness," he said.
