Jamaica Moves

A national health promotion campaign launched by Jamaica's Ministry of Health and Wellness in April 2017 to counter the country's growing burden of noncommunicable disease, at a time when an estimated seven out of every ten deaths in Jamaica were attributed to the four major NCDs of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic lower respiratory disease. Jamaica Moves is a call to action for the population to adopt healthier lifestyle behaviors, with particular emphasis on healthy eating, regular physical activity and undertaking annual, age-appropriate health checks, and it is carried out through a multi-sectoral approach that reaches Jamaicans in schools, workplaces and communities across the island rather than through the health system alone. The government has since intensified the campaign's presence within high schools specifically, using it as a vehicle to increase physical activity among Jamaican students as part of the country's broader effort to shift its NCD burden from treatment toward prevention.