As observance of Aids Week continues, Belize Electricity Limited has announced a donation, which will keep Belizeans aware of their responsibilities all year round. The four thousand dollar gift will be used to implement a countrywide campaign to educate the public on the realities of the deadly epidemic. The cheque was presented today to AIDS […]
As World AIDS Day draws near on Friday; all eyes are focused on ways to slow down the deadliest epidemic of modern times. The World Health Organisation’s Director General, Gro Harlem Brundtland, in her World Aids Day message, says that as fathers, grandfathers, brothers, sons, friends, husbands and partners, it is men who most determine […]
This is National AIDS Week and as one of the activities the National AIDS Commission and U.B. have joined forces to raise awareness. The first in a series of programmes was held at U.B.’s Faculty of Business this morning. Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting It was a regular school day for the students of the University of […]
Today family members mourn the loss of a well know preacher. Fifty-one year old Joseph Matura, an ailing diabetic, was last seen moving about his yard on Central American boulevard around six a.m. Sunday. Twenty minutes later his brother Glenford found him lying face down on the ground. Janice Martinez, Niece “In the past the […]
Blood sugar testing clinics were held all over the country today to mark World Diabetes Day. News Five’s Ann-Marie Williams visited one of the Belize City clinics. Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting Several known diabetics and those who just wanted to find out if they have the disease attended free blood sugar and blood pressure testing clinics […]
The prevalence of diabetes and the many complications associated with the disease will be examined on Tuesday at free clinics in observance of World Diabetes Day. The day’s theme is “Diabetes and Lifestyle in the New Millennium.” Secretary-Treasurer of the Belize Diabetes Association, Katherine Santos, says that the day helps raise public awareness. Katherine Santos, […]
Close to one thousand Belizeans are expected to be up before the crack of dawn on Saturday to participate in the annual Cancer Walk from Ladyville to Belize City. The event, which is the biggest fundraising activity of Cancer Awareness Month, was launched in 1996 by the late Juliet Soberanis, who eventually lost her life […]
Nine years ago the Dental Health Quiz started in an effort to promote good dental hygiene among children, since then many students have entered the contest and walked away with some fabulous prizes. This year, however, for the first time the contest had to be held only at the district level due to Hurricane Keith. […]
On Thursday night Minister of Health Jose Coye officially opened the Belize Medical and Dental Association’s eighteenth annual congress. The meeting takes place at the Princess Hotel in Belize City and provides a forum where health care professionals and the public can keep abreast of new developments in the medical field. Dr. Greg Arana, Secretary […]
Today a Tri-National Meeting between Guatemala, Mexico and Belize, was held to review the health situation in the border areas of the three countries. As a result of the meeting a joint declaration and a cooperation agreement was signed. The declaration agrees on several actions be taken in matters of epidemiological surveillance as well as […]
The Ministry of Health has announced that a number of people in Belize City have been diagnosed with Leptospirosis. The cases were detected after the passage of Hurricane Keith. The disease is an acute bacterial condition that is transmitted to humans by eating food and drinking water contaminated with rat faeces and urine and may […]
While hurricane relief has been dominating our relationships with foreign financial institutions, there are many projects in the pipeline that have nothing to do with Keith. Today the Interamerican Development Bank announced the approval of a 9.8 million U.S. dollar loan, which will improve the delivery of health care. The funds will go toward bringing […]
You may have seen the public service announcements extolling the virtues of eating foods rich in vitamins and minerals. But beyond the hype, evidence continues to mount that childhood nutrition is critical to future development. Today the Ministry of Health launched an effort to make sure that Belizeans get what they need from a very […]
Many groups make charitable donations to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, but few gifts have more personal meaning than the one that was presented this afternoon by the Belizean community from New Orleans. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting On March 8th, baby Chloe Monique Kelly was born weighing only 1 pound, 10 ounces. Because Belize does not […]
Thanks to the Rotary club of San Ignacio that community now has an isolation ward to treat infectious diseases such as Cholera. The ward, which is estimated to have cost close to twenty thousand dollars, was built with the support of Cayo’s business community. Jerry Stevens, President-Elect, Rotary Club, San Ignacio “The isolation ward is […]
As scientists continue to look for a cure for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS, one medication has proven effective when it comes to preventing Mother to Child Transmission or MTCT. Since Wednesday, the Ministry of Health in conjunction with the Pan American Health Organization, UNAIDS and the National Aids Commission have been meeting to […]
When the proposal for a mandatory national health insurance system was introduced earlier this year, it was turned into a public relations nightmare for its author, the Social Security Board. Since that time little has been heard from NHI until today, when the Ministry of Health officially launched the NHI pilot programme on the southside […]
The festering wound that is the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital has apparently burst its stitches. In a press release issued today, the chairman of the hospital’s interim board, Karl H. Menzies, announced that he has submitted his resignation. While the release did not go into detail, it indicated that the primary reason for the resignation […]
The problems range from simple infections, easily cured by antibiotics, to congenital loss of hearing, requiring complex surgery. As News Five’s Jose Sanchez found out this morning, there is no shortage of “haad ayes pikni.” Jose Sanchez, Reporting If you can hear the words I’m speaking without turning up the volume on your T.V., you […]
As the nation of Belize attempts to reform its health care system and upgrade the standard of medical care, it means that doctors must be equipped to both diagnose and treat rare conditions that were previously either sent abroad or neglected. This morning I visited the KHMH to see how one particular condition was being […]
It was a meeting of the House of Representatives that will not be remembered for the electricity of the debate or the length of the deliberations. Indeed, with Dean Barrow and Michael Finnegan both out of the country, it was left to Cayo West’s Erwin Contreras to man the lone opposition seat for the session’s […]
Ralph Fonseca was not the only minister with the nation’s health on his mind this morning. A sobering report on the nation’s war with AIDS was presented by Minister of Human Development Dolores Balderamos Garcia…and the news from the battlefield was not good. Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Human Development “HIV/AIDS has already begun to […]
After nearly a week of drinking well water Dangrigans are once again enjoying the taste of the North Stann Creek. Tests by WASA on Tuesday confirmed that the contamination caused by an overflow of citrus waste ponds upstream had dissipated and the water was now safe for public consumption. WASA Public Relations Officer Harry Bennett […]
To the younger generation the name Karl Heusner has meaning only as the two words which proceed “Memorial Hospital”. And even that connection may soon be lost as the media prefer the abbreviation KHMH. But to those Belizeans over fifty, Karl Heusner was a real human being, a dedicated physician who for thirty-six years treated […]
Mental health in Belize tends to be equated with wherever the “crazy house” happens to be located at any given time. For many years there was Seaview, a colonial era hell hole on the Barracks. More recently we have Rockview, a somewhat less hellish hole off the Western Highway near Gracy Rock. But mental health […]
