On the cusp of Mother’s Day, a groundbreaking national public health and advocacy initiative is stepping into the spotlight in Kingston, Jamaica, aiming to turn a traditional day of celebration into tangible, life-changing support for vulnerable young mothers across the island. On Thursday, the Heart and Vascular Centre officially unveiled its first-ever “Run for Mom 5K,” a community-focused event developed in close collaboration with the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation. What began as an idea to reimagine Mother’s Day has grown into a coordinated movement that ties together public health awareness, educational support, and targeted advocacy for adolescent mothers navigating systemic and social barriers.
Organisers deliberately selected Tivoli Gardens in Kingston as the race’s host location, a choice intended to mirror both the steep challenges that many local families face and the extraordinary resilience of Jamaican communities that carry forward despite hardship. Dr. Lorren Scott, founder of the Heart and Vascular Centre, opened the launch by unpacking the deeper mission that drives the initiative, noting that while cultural tradition widely celebrates mothers each year, a large subset of young and adolescent mothers are systematically overlooked and left without critical support.
“Mothers are the backbone of every family, every community, and this entire nation,” Scott emphasized during Thursday’s launch. “Yet across Jamaica, countless young mothers are navigating interrupted schooling, severely limited access to support systems, and persistent social stigma. Their strength deserves far more than just a one-day shoutout — it deserves sustained, actionable support.” Scott added that the 5K run is intentionally structured to turn public awareness and conversation into tangible action, pushing for the well-being of adolescent mothers and broader maternal health to be elevated as core national priorities in Jamaica.
The initiative has already secured significant corporate backing, with telecommunications firm FLOW contributing JMD $1 million alongside free connectivity services to help extend the event’s outreach to communities across the country. Pete Smith, FLOW’s Regulatory Finance Manager, framed the company’s sponsorship as more than a charitable donation — it is an investment in Jamaica’s people and long-term national progress. “This is not just financial support; it is a full commitment to a purpose that matters,” Smith explained. He noted that the initiative aligns perfectly with FLOW’s ongoing work to improve public health outcomes and empower vulnerable population groups, adding that the event also serves a secondary critical goal: raising public awareness of cardiovascular disease and encouraging active, healthier lifestyles through collective community engagement.
Novelette Howell, Executive Director of the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation, welcomed the cross-sector partnership, highlighting its unique potential to open new doors for adolescent mothers working to rebuild their education after pregnancy. Howell outlined the foundation’s A-Stream programme, a targeted initiative that supports teenage mothers pursuing secondary and tertiary education, alongside complementary support for young fathers to help them build stable family units. “Education is the single most critical pathway to breaking intergenerational cycles of vulnerability and creating lasting, meaningful change for these young women and their children,” Howell said.
Leading local medical professionals have also publicly endorsed the initiative, including Dr. Garth McDonald of Jamaica’s iconic Victoria Jubilee Hospital. Dr. McDonald stressed that the challenges facing adolescent mothers carry broad, long-term implications for Jamaican society as a whole. “Teenage pregnancy remains a disproportionate burden for any society, even as national rates have declined in recent years,” he explained. “While we have made progress on reducing prevalence, the persistent psychosocial challenges — from widespread social stigma to gaps in targeted support — continue to put young mothers and their children at heightened risk.”
Event organisers confirmed that all proceeds from the upcoming Run for Mom 5K will go directly to fund existing support programmes for adolescent mothers across Jamaica. Beyond direct funding, the initiative also aims to build a sustained national culture of preventive health, wellness, and community solidarity around maternal well-being, turning a single annual celebration into a movement that drives lasting change.