To Mrs. Brown Richmond and My fellow classmates, a pleasant good morning.

The topic I will be addressing this morning is To what extent have advances in medicine impacted Jamaicas child health care in the last decade? The State of the Worlds Children report says the answer to lowering the rate of child deaths globally lies in greater investment in integrated child survival strategies, those which provide a continuum of care for mothers, newborns and young children. This statement embodies why I have chosen this topic. My interests are conducive to this topic as I am an active member of Jamaica Red Cross Society with a keen interest in child health care after working for a year at the Bustamante Childrens Hospital as well as an aspiring Doctor.

I have chosen to work with three sources. Two medical doctors who have been involved in child health care as well as general medicine for over 20 years as my primary source through interview and secondary sources, a newspaper article from The Jamaica Observer and an online article from http://www.unicef.org/jamaica/children.html. Dr. Val and Dr. John are both general practitioners and owners of El Shaddai Medical Centre and The Kidz Klinic each with over twenty years of experience. One can securely say they are seasoned in child health care, as follows; a face to face interview with both doctors was conducted. The interview consisted of 10 questions, all of which were open ended. Questions 1-3 requested background information on the participants whereas questions 4-10 were questions which probed participants about the topic at hand. The interviews were conducted separately in each partys office at Kidz Klinic. The interviews each run smoothly without any interruption on the 21th of March, 2012.

The Newspaper article was taken from the The Sunday Gleaner written by Dr. Henry Lowe published on October 3, 2011. This article spoke about health care advances in Jamaica over the decade; it especially mentioned child health care and what the Jamaican government has done to ensure it running at full capacity. The online article http://www.unicef.org/jamaica/children.html confirmed Dr. Henry Lowes statement that Jamaica has one of the most advanced health care systems for children in the Caribbean The website sited clearly the outline of the criteria needed for further progress in Jamaica but also commented on the sophistication of the medical equipment and international friendships Jamaica has made to aid in its health care. Both primary and secondary sources gave elaborate explanations on the topic. In the interviews Both Dr. Val and Dr. John said that Jamaica has what can be considered one of the best health care systems in the Caribbean as Jamaica has the only child specialized hospital in for children,

the Bustamante Childrens Hospital. Alongside multitudes of international support, Dr. Val however said that due the national budget a lot of smaller projects are subject to neglect as there are little funds in order to aid them. In fact, with the national health cut of 2005-2008, 28% of the funds was serviced towards child health which kept the public health care systems head above the water. This was also mentioned in the article by Dr. Henry Lowe. In addition to this; recently (2010-2011) strides in surgical care are now covered by the national fund for all minor procedures once patient has met the requirement according to UNICEFs website, this surgical care is also covered for prenatal care. All in all, it can be determined that although the health care system isnt perfect with the integration of both national and international interest one can say that Jamaica can be proud of where their circumstances are now and look towards the future for greater improvement as with medicine there is always room for improvement. In terms of validity, all sources used can be tested and proved valid as Dr. John and Dr. Val both graduates of Harvard Medical University in 1983 went on to get married and open two separate private practices, this power couple both sit on the board of selectors for medicine in the private sector. Dr. John is a specialized pediatric surgeon and Dr. Val is the head hematologist at the University Hospital of West Indies. They have been managing the Kidz Klinic for 16 years in addition to them sitting on the private sector board for more a decade each. Therefore the information they gave can be assumed to be truthful and unbiased based on their unaffiliated stance in the medical community inclusive of both doctors knowledge of said community. Whereas with the article written by Dr. Henry Lowe who is a medical journalist and has been seated on the Medical Council of Jamaica for more than a decade as well as specialized in medicinal chemistry for 43 years. Dr. Henry Lowe is renowned for his 15 bestsellers books and his position as the past CEO of Jamaica Blue Cross. He is currently a senior researcher at the University of the West Indies. Hence the information he provided in The Sunday Gleaner proved valid as the nature of his article was written as a report. In fact, The Sunday Gleaner established since 1834, is a reliable context as the Company and its publications have always been thoroughly Jamaican in outlook. Its policies are determined by Directors who have a stake in the country and who wish to serve the interests of the nation and its people, and in the concept that only good services can produce and justify good earnings. The company through the years have won scores of cooperate awards for honest journalism. The online article from http://www.unicef.org/jamaica/children.html can be proved valid because it is from the organization UNICEF (United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund) which not only is legitimate internationally but gives comprehensive reviews of all countries that are a part on it, including Jamaica.

However, there were challenges faced in the construction of the interview questions and organizing a date that was suitable for the interviewees and me, due the nature of their career and my occupation as a student. This struggle in writing the questions had to do with my inexperience in research and probing, the issue of having to ask appropriate question while maintaining a respectful character that would be sufficient for my topic. But having done the interviews first hand adds to the validity of my information and having done hours of research on my secondary sources from respectable sources also added to the validity of my information in addition to actually providing me with said information. In conclusion, let me answer my topic To what extent have advances in medicine impacted Jamaicas child health care in the last decade? This is seen in the years research and experience from my sources responses. Jamaica has done a lot of work internationally and nationally in order to provide aid to its health care system, the child health care system has greatly benefited from this work as policies and criteria have been reformation for greater benefits for Jamaicas children. Yes, there are a few drawbacks but as a big picture one can say Jamaicas work in medicine in the last decade is moving Jamaica and its children forward.