分类： society

Against the backdrop of Jamaica’s national push to reverse its plummeting birth rate, a grassroots WhatsApp support community has given a collective voice to hundreds of women living with common reproductive health conditions, who say they are eager to have children but locked out of life-changing fertility care due to prohibitive costs.

The community, titled *Life of Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Endometriosis and Fibroids*, now counts 247 members, all Jamaican women whose reproductive health diagnoses have left them struggling to conceive, and who cannot cover the high cost of treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) that could help them realize their dream of parenthood.

It was founded in mid-May by 31-year-old Cassandra Ahloc Bernardroiva, who received her diagnosis of PCOS – recently renamed polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) – when she was just 19. Bernardroiva launched the group after noticing a widespread gap in support and public attention for women navigating reproductive barriers that prevent conception. She shared her own personal struggle on social media, and women across the country aged 20 to 45 flooded in to join the safe, judgment-free space, where members trade advice, share resources, and offer mutual encouragement while navigating the challenges of their diagnoses together.

Speaking to the Jamaica Observer, Bernardroiva outlined the widespread frustration shared across the group: members face a wide range of debilitating symptoms, from irregular or absent menstrual cycles to sudden unexplained weight gain and bloating, and often receive dismissive care from medical providers who blame infertility on weight without accounting for the underlying condition. Like many in the group, Bernardroiva has endured multiple failed conception attempts, as well as invasive, hurtful questions from loved ones about why she has not started a family.

With Jamaica’s Health Ministry prioritizing action to reverse the country’s falling birth rate, and Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton recently launching a 12-month process to develop a national National Fertility and Family Support Strategy, the women of the group are calling on policymakers to include targeted support for their needs. They point out that they are exactly the group the government is targeting to boost birth rates: they are ready and willing to have children, they just cannot afford the care that makes conception possible.

“If you’re saying that you need more babies in the country for the economy to thrive or for us to be good in the years to come, then help us,” Bernardroiva argued. “A lot of us probably don’t have the money to get IVF and certain treatments that the doctors would recommend… by helping us, you’re also helping the economy. We are not having kids because we don’t have proper fertility help and we need affordable health care.” So far, the group has tagged Minister Tufton in their public awareness posts, but has yet to receive any response from his office.

Jamaica’s current fertility rate sits at just 1.3 children per woman, far below the 2.1 replacement rate needed to sustain a stable population. The Health Ministry warns that the ongoing decline threatens the country’s long-term economic stability, future workforce, and social safety net, driving population aging, rising dependency ratios, and falling overall productivity.

Jonelle Llewellyn, a 33-year-old group member diagnosed with premature ovarian insufficiency, joined the community when it had just over 90 members and has watched its rapid growth firsthand. She noted that the group brings together women from every corner of Jamaica who share nearly identical struggles, with dozens of real-time testimonials from women who have spent years trying unsuccessfully to conceive. Llewellyn added that many members lack clear, accessible information about their conditions: doctors often prescribe medications without explaining their purpose, or rely on confusing medical jargon, leaving many women to turn to the group and artificial intelligence to decode their care options.

While existing advocacy campaigns such as PCOSTalkJa and PCOS1in10Ja have done important work to raise public awareness of conditions like PCOS, Llewellyn emphasized that awareness alone is not enough when diagnosis and treatment remain out of reach for most low- and middle-income women. Minister Tufton has said the government’s goal is not just to boost birth statistics, but to build a system where starting a family is affordable, structurally supported, and accessible to all. Llewellyn argues that promise must extend to women whose infertility stems from unaddressed reproductive health conditions, not economic or cultural barriers.

The National Taskforce on Fertility and Responsible Parenting, which is leading the strategy development process, deserves broad public support, Llewellyn noted, but any effective national plan must explicitly recognize common reproductive health conditions as one of the core drivers of Jamaica’s falling fertility rate, beyond the focus on economic incentives. To address the gap, she called for embedded routine screening for these conditions at the primary care level, standardized and accessible pathways to affordable specialist treatment, and expanded data collection that not only tracks how many women are affected, but investigates the systemic failures that have left this population unsupported for decades.

“Life with PCOS represents something policymakers rarely encounter — a ready, willing, and already-organised sample of the very women the strategy must reach,” Llewellyn said. “The means of communication is accessible by design. The evidence inside it is anything but simple.”

A fatal police shooting that claimed the life of 43-year-old Latoya “Buju” Bulgin in the Granville community of St James, Jamaica, has sparked urgent calls for systemic reform within the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), from one of the force’s most experienced retired leaders. With 42 years of decorated service under his belt, retired Senior Superintendent Steve McGregor has described the May 17 incident as deeply disturbing, and is pushing the national police service to overhaul its current approach to crime management and community policing, stressing that lethal force must only ever be used as a last resort in high-stakes encounters.

The incident that ignited this national debate unfolded when Bulgin was transporting people to a protest over the recent police killing of 17-year-old Tjey Edwards, when officers stopped her Toyota Voxy in the Granville community square. Released closed-circuit television footage shows an officer firing directly at Bulgin while she remained seated behind the steering wheel. After she was shot, officers pulled her from the vehicle legs-first, dragged her across the ground, and unceremoniously threw her into the bed of a police pickup truck, with officers struggling to close the vehicle’s tailgate after loading her. Official police accounts claim Bulgin threatened to drive over the officer who opened fire, and the case is currently under investigation by the country’s Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom), the independent body tasked with probing law enforcement misconduct.

While McGregor has echoed widespread public frustration with the JCF’s pattern of deadly use of force, he is urging Jamaicans to avoid rushing to judgment and calling the involved officers murderers before all facts of the case come to light. He emphasized that justice cannot be built on raw emotion, and that full due process must be followed to uncover every detail surrounding the fatal encounter. In a public letter to the editor, McGregor noted that every loss of life at the hands of police should be a matter of national concern, requiring deliberate sensitivity, strict professionalism, and full accountability from law enforcement. He added that public trust in the JCF is already dangerously fragile, whether that trust gap is viewed as fair or unfounded, and rebuilding that public confidence must be treated as an urgent top priority for the force.

McGregor argued that professionalism must be strengthened at every rank of the JCF, calling for divisional commanders to engage with community members far more regularly through press briefings, town halls, and open community forums. He noted that citizens need structured spaces to ask questions, voice their long-held concerns, and gain a clearer understanding of the challenges that frontline officers face, pointing out that democratic policing operates by public consent: when the relationship between police and communities breaks down, effective policing becomes exponentially more difficult.

The veteran former officer also called for a renewed focus on ongoing training, direct supervision, structured mentorship, and intentional leadership development within the force. He raised concerns that younger officers today are not receiving the same high-quality preparation and guidance that veteran officers of his generation benefited from, noting that senior leaders once prioritized teaching not just law enforcement techniques, but also critical skills like exercising restraint, communicating with community members, and maintaining composure under extreme pressure. McGregor stressed that police cannot approach every interaction as a battle against crime; instead, the force must shift to a model of more intelligent, professional crime management that prioritizes de-escalation.

“Every part of an officer’s conduct matters: the language they use, their tone, their overall attitude. Respect and consistent professionalism can often defuse tense encounters before they escalate into violent confrontation,” McGregor said. “Sensitivity is especially critical when women are involved in an incident. Regardless of what this investigation concludes, a woman is dead, and that reality alone should remind all of us how serious this matter is.”

McGregor made clear he continues to stand behind the hardworking rank-and-file officers of the JCF, acknowledging the extraordinary danger and difficult conditions they work under every day. But he stressed that support for frontline officers cannot exist without simultaneous accountability for misconduct — the two principles are not mutually exclusive. Drawing on his decades of experience policing in Jamaica, he noted that he understands firsthand what it is like to work in a tense, often undisciplined society, never knowing if you will return home safely at the end of a shift. Even so, he emphasized, officers are specifically trained to handle these high-pressure encounters with professional restraint.

“We train officers in conflict management, tactical response, de-escalation, and the progressive use of force. Lethal force is designed to be the last resort, not the first option when an interaction begins,” he said.

McGregor also called for the Indecom investigation to proceed without social media trial-by-public-outcry or emotional hysteria. If criminal charges are warranted against any involved officer, he said, the case must be heard quickly and fairly in open court. But accountability should not end with the criminal probe, he added: if internal disciplinary breaches or operational failures are uncovered, the JCF must hold responsible parties accountable internally and be transparent with the public about what actions are taken.

Key questions need clear answers, McGregor argued: Was there adequate supervision for the operation? Were standard operating procedures followed from start to finish? Was appropriate medical care provided to Bulgin immediately after she was shot? The JCF must reassure the public that rules governing police conduct are enforced fairly and consistently, he said, noting that transparency and accountability are non-negotiable if the force hopes to rebuild fractured public trust. He also reiterated longstanding calls from civil society to mandate body-worn cameras for all frontline officers, pointing out that the devices protect officers from unfair assumptions and incomplete narratives while providing critical context, transparency, and accountability for investigations.

“Leadership at every level of the force must now step up to make difficult decisions, strengthen professional standards, improve training, and restore public confidence. If we are honest with ourselves, things are not working right now. We have to do better, my former colleagues. Jamaica deserves better from all of us,” he said.

Latest data from Indecom shows that 133 people have been fatally shot by Jamaican security forces so far this year, a slight increase from the 129 people killed in the same period last year, with 18 fatal shootings recorded in May alone. Crucially, Indecom has confirmed that none of the three officers assigned to crowd control duties at the protest Bulgin was traveling to were issued or wearing body-worn cameras the day of the shooting — a gap that has been a core point of criticism from Jamaican civil society organizations for years.

In response to the public outrage, Prime Minister Andrew Holness extended official condolences to Bulgin’s family, acknowledging that the incident has sparked widespread pain, anger, and deep concern across the country. Speaking at a graduation ceremony for the JCF’s 91st Staff & Junior Command Courses, Holness reminded new graduates that their core mandate is to preserve and protect human life, requiring them to rely on their training and professionalism to carry out all operations responsibly. The prime minister also issued a formal directive ordering the JCF to immediately review and reform its procedures for handling injured and deceased people at incident scenes, stressing that protecting and preserving human life must always be the force’s top priority.

For his part, JCF Commissioner Dr. Kevin Blake addressed the growing national debate over police use of force in his recent *Commissioner’s Corner* public address, acknowledging the high-stakes nature of police decision-making. Blake noted that officers are often required to make split-second judgments under extreme pressure, with incomplete information, in rapidly changing dangerous situations. He stressed that while accountability is a core requirement of democratic policing, public assessments of officer actions must take into account the difficult operational conditions officers face, pointing out that critics often judge incidents with 20/20 hindsight that officers on the ground do not have.

Blake also emphasized the critical importance of rigorous ongoing training, consistent professionalism, emotional resilience, and principled leadership, arguing that all police decisions should be guided by ethics, evidence, and the public good. “We must learn not to become paralysed by criticism nor intoxicated by praise. Good decision-making is not the absence of criticism; rather, it is the disciplined pursuit of what is lawful, ethical, and necessary despite criticism,” Blake wrote. He added that the force must prioritize cultivating officers who can think clearly amid uncertainty, and leaders who can act decisively when under pressure. “The nation depends on our judgement every day. Let us, therefore, strive to ensure that our decisions — whether operational, tactical, or strategic — are grounded in professionalism and wisdom,” he said.

The shooting has already sparked two days of widespread public protests in Granville, with angry residents blocking major roads in the community and demanding accountability for Bulgin’s death, and a heavy police presence deployed to the area to respond to the unrest.

Newly released crash data from the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) shows that total road traffic fatalities across the island have crossed the 100 threshold, reaching 105 confirmed deaths as of May 22 this year. While the triple-digit fatality count underscores the ongoing risks of road travel, the ITA’s latest statistics highlight a striking improvement in road safety when compared to the same period last year.

This year’s fatalities represent a 28 percent decrease from the 2025 count for the same January-to-May window, meaning 41 fewer lives have been lost on the island’s roads compared to 12 months ago. The number of deadly crashes itself has also followed this downward trend: the 105 fatalities recorded this year stem from just 94 fatal collisions, which is also a 28 percent reduction year-over-year.

Breaking down the demographic data reveals clear patterns in who is most at risk on the island’s roads. Since the start of the calendar year, motorcyclists have made up the largest single group of fatalities, accounting for 25 deaths, or 24 percent of the total 2026 toll. Private vehicle drivers follow closely behind with 22 fatalities, equal to 21 percent of all deaths, while private vehicle passengers account for 18 deaths, or 17 percent of the total. Pedalcyclists have recorded 5 fatalities so far this year, making up 5 percent of the overall fatality count.

When aggregated, vulnerable road user groups—including pedestrians, pedalcyclists, motorcyclists, and motorcycle pillion passengers—account for more than half of all 2026 road fatalities, at 57 percent of the total. Gender breakdowns also show a stark gap in fatality risk: 84 percent of all road deaths recorded since January have been male, while female fatalities make up the remaining 16 percent.

The ITA’s figures frame a mixed picture for the island’s road safety efforts: even as the total number of deaths remains a pressing public concern, the substantial year-over-year decline signals that current safety interventions are beginning to deliver measurable results.

A shocking act of alleged arson has rocked a rural community in St Mary, Jamaica, leaving a local industrial compound damaged and a 59-year-old woman in police detention. The incident unfolded at the Surrey and Aggregate premises in the Georgia district of the parish around 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, according to official law enforcement accounts.

The compound’s on-site caretaker, who first encountered the woman before the fire broke out, told investigators she was behaving aggressively and disruptively on the property. After multiple attempts to convince her to leave the premises peacefully failed, the caretaker made the decision to travel to the nearest police station in Annotto Bay to file a report and request assistance.

When the caretaker returned to the Surrey and Aggregate compound alongside law enforcement, they discovered both targeted office buildings were already engulfed in raging flames. In addition to the structural damage, two privately owned vehicles — a pickup truck and a standard passenger car — were also caught in the blaze, suffering significant damage.

Emergency response teams from the Annotto Bay Police Department and the local fire service quickly deployed to the scene to contain the fire and begin documenting evidence. By the time first responders secured the area, the suspect 59-year-old woman was taken into custody without further incident. Authorities have confirmed that formal investigations into the motive behind the alleged attack are currently ongoing, with no additional details on potential charges released to the public as of the latest update.