MORRISON... we see evidence of increasing intolerance and ignorance

PRESIDENT of Blue Cross of Jamaica, Professor Errol Morrison, believes ignorance and limited access to information is to blamed for many of Jamaica's social problems, especially the spiralling crime rate.

"We see evidence of increasing intolerance and ignorance in the society, with outcomes of escalating violence and bodily harm making us one of the top countries with such outcomes," Morrison said.

He was speaking yesterday during a meeting of the Rotary Club of St Andrew at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

Morrison told the gathering that the anchor points for nation-building and community upliftment are education, health and happiness.

He argued that the absence of knowledge about issues such as health, impacts negatively on the society. For example, he pointed out that ignorance about healthy dieting had increased the number of cases of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, and called for more national health education programmes.

"We need to promote health in all its paradigms - wellness promotion, health maintenance and health intervention."
To further strengthen his point, Morrison made reference to a recent study that revealed that the world's richest countries had invested heavily in health programmes during their developmental period.

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