Noting the decline in the number of births, annually, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton on Tuesday encouraged Jamaicans to think about having more children, once they can afford to do so.

“It is quite relevant to say, in support of a little bit of population increase, if you can afford it, why not have?” Tufton said during the handover ceremony of the refurbished breastfeeding room at Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Kingston.

“I was studying the [birth]numbers from 2018 to present and it is actually declining. We are coming from 7,116 in 2018 to 6,018 annually in 2023,” he said.

The minister was guest speaker at the ribbon-cutting and reopening of the breastfeeding room, which was renovated with money raised by the Kiwanis Club of New Kingston through the club’s Skip a Meal initiative which encouraged people to bypass a meal and donate the funds they would have used to purchase that meal.

A total of $500,000 was donated towards renovating the room.

Tufton pointed to a recent Jamaica Observer article which highlighted that not enough babies are being born to replace the number of people who are dying.

The article reported respected former public servant Reginald Budhan as saying that if the fall in Jamaica’s birth rate continues unabated, the island’s vision for developed country status will remain a dream.

The article pointed out that Jamaica’s Population Health Status Report 2000–2022, which was tabled in Parliament in May, showed that the country continues to face a low birth rate problem, with the total number of live births in the country declining sharply over the last 20 years. Overall, it said Jamaica’s crude birth rate, which is the number of annual live births per 1,000 population, declined by 10.2 percentage points from 21.7 per 1, 000 population in 2000 to 11.4 per 1000 population in 2022.

“If you study the numbers, you will see that our replacement population is actually at a rate that is lower than our capacity to sustain ourselves. That may sound kind of extreme and concerning, but the average woman of child-rearing age is having 1.9 babies on average when our replacement rate should be around 2.1, so we are actually below the replacement rate,” Tufton said.

“When you look at migration, plus the low birth rate, then it clearly points in the direction stated by our lead epidemiologist, Dr Webster Kerr, that the population has actually plateaued in Jamaica and is about to decline. That has all sorts of socio-economic implications, and it is something that there will need to be a deeper discussion around in terms of planning policies and things like the labour market and so on,” the minister said.

He endorsed the partnership between the Kiwanis Club of New Kingston and Victoria Jubilee Hospital that made the renovation of the breastfeeding room possible, as it will facilitate mothers who give birth to premature babies.

Underscoring the need for a proper and comfortable breastfeeding room, Tufton said that about 12 per cent of babies are born before 37 weeks and require special care.

A full term pregnancy lasts around 40 weeks.

“There is a need for special attention to premature deliveries. About 40 to 50 per cent [of the 12 per cent] need very special care, which is why the facility you are putting in place comes in very handily. The capacity of the facility always can do with improvements because it is constantly used and, therefore, the ongoing relationship is important. This contribution here, as I understand it, will see a significant improvement not just in the look, feel, and comfort level but also in terms of equipment and some of the critical things that are needed like warmers, monitors, and infusion pumps. For all these reasons I think this effort should be applauded,” said Tufton.

“Premature births, more often than not, are not something you can avoid. We are reforming primary health care beyond hospital care. Part of that reform is greater support in communities around care for mothers and their young ones even before they give birth. There is a comprehensive proposal that will show itself in full form in time around how that is going to be done with the redesignation of our primary health-care facilities,” added Tufton.

Sophia Bernard-Fairman, president of the Kiwanis Club of New Kingston, said the main aim of of the club is to serve children.

“What better partnership could we do than to work with Jubilee and partner on this very special project. The nursery is home for premature babies. When they are born and they need some extra care before they are handed over to their mothers, they stay at the nursery. They have a number of needs, so refurbishing entailed just a whole nicer environment. When you are breastfeeding, you want a nice and comfortable environment, so we donated two recliners, a mural on the wall, and amenities that the mothers could really have to their benefit in the nursery. We really encourage breastfeeding because it is such an important part of a baby’s health,” said Bernard-Fairma.