DIRECTOR OF the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr. Mirta Roses, yesterday cited the need to effect preventative measures to curb the scourge of violence.
"Violence is a contagious disease, if we let it go, it multiplies, but if you can control it, then you can reduce it and scale it back," Dr. Roses told The Gleaner. Dr. Roses is in Jamaica to address the PAHO International Conference on Violence which starts tomorrow at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston.
"Sometimes people feel hopeless that they cannot do anything, societies become tolerant, they don't like it, but they do not feel they can do anything, they have to accept and that is what we need to modify," Dr. Roses explained.
She said as society, we need to try and convince people about the impact violence can have on the health of a nation.
"The toll is very heavy. The losses in terms of disabilities, the impact on the development of children, disruption of families, care for the elderly. We need to understand how much it is affecting the different sectors."
She suggested approaches that Jamaica, especially with our rate of violence, needs to take to deal with the issue.
"I think the Jamaican society needs to understand the magnitude and the variety of the problem and the linkages of violence such as drugs and HIV/AIDS. We need to understand that with all these linkages, we can collect evidence, bring more knowledge and that we can have successful interventions. What we are proposing after the conference is to organise a commission of leadership at the national level which should look at three things:
Try to understand the magnitude and the factors that are involved and look at what is already known and the gaps that need to be addressed.
Identify those interventions that do work and commit to expand and scale them up.
The need to look at policy and legislation. What are the things that need to be reinforced.
