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First Ever Vitrectomies Being Performed This Week at B.C.V.I.

Vitrectomy – it’s a type of eye surgery that is performed to salvage whatever vision patients, including diabetics, are left with after their eyes have suffered significant damage. This week, these procedures were a first for the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired in Belize City. The organization had received equipment and supplies for the […]

5PB: Don’t Tax My Femininity Realized

It was a process that began earlier this year and will now see the cost of sanitary pads and other feminine products reduced in stores nationwide. The Don’t Tax My Femininity Campaign was able to get the attention of policymakers who have since removed all taxes from these products. But it is only just taking […]

A Candlelight Vigil for Suicide Awareness and Prevention

September tenth is the annual Commemoration of the Battle of Saint George’s Caye.  It is also World Suicide Prevention Day.  In Belize City on Thursday night, a candlelight vigil was held in front of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital to remember loved ones who have taken their own lives.  It is also used to raise […]

Training for Police Officers on Intervention in Mental Health Situations

Despite having rogue cop in the department, as well as incidents of police brutality and, in extreme cases, death, police officers are sworn to protect and serve.  But they are human beings and are also facing life pressures that can sometimes lead to mental health issues. This, as well as ensuring that officers do not […]

N.C.D Expo Held to Educate Children on Healthy Diet

Health issues such as obesity among schoolchildren were among the main topics dealt with at a non-communicable disease expo today in Belmopan. The event was held to educate children and their parents and teachers on healthy diets and the risks that unhealthy foods can cause in children as they grow older. Among the key speakers […]

Musical Artist Struck Down by Sickness Needs Your Help

A man who considers himself an entrepreneur, musical artist, producer and song writer is reaching out to you for help after doctors assured him that he can regain his vision. Horace Bryce was diagnosed with diabetes last year at the age of forty and it has since cost him a leg and his eyesight. But […]

Will Belize Need New COVID Vaccine?

As the new COVID variant spreads across the U.S., concerns have been raised at home as to whether Belizeans would need to receive a new vaccine that has been created. The Eris variant of the Omicron form of COVID has been causing hospitalizations to increase in North America. Now because Belize is just a flight […]

Ministry of Education Not Worried about COVID/Dengue

As we’ve been reporting, there has been an increase in dengue cases in Belize and the number of cases recorded countrywide is above the threshold. There are also instances of active COVID cases still popping up.  As the new school year approaches, Minister of Education Francis Fonseca was asked whether these two illnesses are of […]

What role does the workplace play in breastfeeding?

“Enabling breastfeeding: Making a difference for working parents”. That’s the theme for this year’s Breastfeeding Awareness Week, from August first to seventh. Breastfeeding is the process of delivering food in milk-form from mother to child. While it’s a natural process that is also recommended because of the crucial benefits for mother and child, there is […]

The Belize Regional Sanitary Landfill Turns 10

The Belize Regional Sanitary Landfill, located off the George Price Highway at mile twenty-four, is turning ten. The facility was inaugurated on July thirtieth, 2013 and became fully operational by September of that year.  Belize Solid Waste Management Project One, under which the facility was constructed, also saw major dumpsites closed down and replaced by […]

Separation of Garbage – Recyclable, Compost, Waste

Belize City generates about sixty-nine tons of waste per day; San Ignacio around thirty tons, twenty-five tons from the island town of San Pedro, Caye Caulker about six to seven tons and Burrell Boom approximately ten tons daily. The proper disposal of garbage begins at the individual level. Tyrone Chimilio says that within the Belize […]

COVID Still in Belize; Omicron Prevalent Strain

For weeks now, we have been getting reports of increased active cases of COVID. Persons were asked not to show up to work, but to stay home and recover, but there was no official confirmation of the increasing positivity rate. Today, the Ministry of Health and Wellness confirmed that there was an increase in active […]

Spike in COVID Cases Not Detected in the Region

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been reporting that in some countries, like the U.S., there has been a ten percent increase in active cases, including hospitalizations. In Belize, and in this region, Director of Health Services Doctor Melissa Diaz-Musa says that this is not the case.   Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director […]

DHS Says Dengue Cases Above Threshold

Last month, we reported that dengue figures up to mid-July had surpassed the number of cases for the entire year of 2022, with over eight hundred and eighty-one clinical cases detected. The data showed that the highest numbers of cases were concentrated in the Orange Walk and Cayo Districts.  Since then, those figures have increased […]

NCDs are a Priority at the Ministry of Health and Wellness

Non-communicable diseases are among the top three causes of death in Belize.  Diabetes, hypertension, as well as cancer and now, mental health are among the top NCDs affecting the country. Director of Health Services, Doctor Melissa Diaz-Musa says that the Ministry of Health and Wellness has not lost sight of this and they are continuously […]

MOHW & MOE Piloting a Healthy Schools Project

The Director of Health Services Doctor Melissa Diaz-Musa shared details of a Healthy Habits, Healthy Schools, Healthy Belize Project that will be piloted in eighteen schools across the Belize District, including San Pedro and Caye Caulker. The initiative is a partnership between the Ministries of Health and Wellness and Education and looks at providing healthier meals […]

Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week 2023

World Breastfeeding Week is an annual celebration that is held from the first to the seventh of August in more than one hundred and twenty countries, including Belize.  It was first celebrated in 1992 by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action and is now observed by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. The aim is […]

B.M.A. N.H.I. Clinic: Providing Affordable Service to Southside Belize City

Located on Regent Street in Belize City, the Belize Medical Associates Southside facility is also an N.H.I. Clinic that offers primary healthcare to residents. Since 2001, the clinic has been working in that area of Belize City, providing affordable services at a high standard, set by the National Health Insurance Program.  Over twelve thousand persons […]

Screwworm Detection in Central America; BAHA Sets New Measures

There’s an outbreak of the New World screwworm in Central America again and the folks at the Belize Agricultural Health Authority, BAHA, are informing farmers and others who have pets close to the border areas to be vigilant. They are also advising people who cross into Belize with farm animals to adhere to the measures […]

Dengue Figures So Far Surpass 2022 Figures

The rainy season has begun and as a country we are in the summer months, which are traditionally known for a spike in dengue cases. With the COVID pandemic, there was a drastic decrease in the recorded number of cases – not only in Belize, but also in the Central America and Caribbean regions. There […]

Cayo & Orange Walk Districts Recording Highest Cases of Dengue

As of this past Saturday, July fifteenth, the data for 2023 is showing the Orange Walk and Cayo Districts recording the highest number of lab confirmed and clinical cases of dengue; these figures are two hundred and twenty-three and three hundred and twenty-seven, respectively. Ironically, Belize District, which has ordinarily recorded highest numbers, is next […]

What You Can Do to Prevent Spread of Dengue

Dengue is a disease driven mostly by socioeconomic conditions, including poor drainage, housing and infrastructure and poor solid waste disposal. And so there is a shared responsibility at the individual level, the community level and guided by the Ministry of Health and Wellness. So the Vector Control Chief of Operations shares what can be done. […]

No Cases of Zika & ChikV in Belize for 2 Consecutive Years

Back in June of this year, Belize was certified by the World Health Organization as a malaria-free country. It’s a significant accomplishment for the country’s public health history. Malaria, like dengue, is a vector-borne disease. But then there is also zika and chikungunya. So where is Belize when it comes to cases of these two […]

Major Slipup at the K.H.M.H., Wrong Body, Wrong Family

The Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital is conducting an investigation into a serious mix-up that occurred at the morgue this morning. A mother visited the morgue to pick up the body of her deceased child for burial only to learn that the child’s body was handed over to the wrong family. That family unknowingly held a […]

Punitive H.I.V-AIDS Laws Repealed

Today the House moved to repeal Section forty-six A and seventy-three A of the Laws of Belize that criminalize the spread of H.I.V.-AIDS. The twenty-two-year-old statute holds H.I.V.-positive individuals criminally responsible for any risk of transmission, including from mother to child. Minister of Human Development, Dolores Balderamos Garcia, supports the repeal of the Bill, pointing to […]