Jamaica's Family Planning Board seeks more funds to respond to Zica threat

In anticipation of  the impact of  the Zika virus, Jamaica's National Family Planning Board is seeking millions of  dollars from overseas entities to effectively respond to various aspects of  the expected outbreak.
   
Dr. Sandra Knight, the Board's Chairman, explained on Monday that an additional budget had to be crafted to make that response effective.
   
While the Health Ministry has been issuing notices to the public concerning the seeming imminent arrival of the Zika virus, the Family Planning Board has been conducting its own activities, in the wake of  the advisory for women not to get pregnant at this time due to the risk of  birth defects linked to the mosquito-borne virus.
   
Dr. Knight, speaking on RJR's Beyond the Headlines, said the entity's regular budget is not able to manage the expected workload, so help has been sought elsewhere.

Characterising the Zika response budget as being "in the tens of millions," she explained that the Board was reaching out to "our very, very faithful intenational partners," and was hoping for "some positive response" soon.

The World Health Organization anticipates that the Zika virus will reach all but two countries in South, Central, and North America, the exceptions being Chile and Canada.

Asked whether Jamaicans were taking the Government's advisory seriously, Dr. Knight conceded that it was "not as serious as we would like them."

Offering a possible reason for this, she said it was perhaps because there has not yet been a confirmed case of the Zica virus in the country.

With the Government advising against women becoming getting for the next six-to-twelve months, Dr. Knight said the Family Planning Board had modified its general message, to stress the importance of contraceptive use during this crucial period.

"We are placing the (contraceptive) options out there; complications, ensuring that persons are well advised on the suitable ones," she said.