The University of the West Indies in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Jamaica (MoH), the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) and Measure Evaluation of Tulane University and the University of North Carolina is carrying out an island-wide household survey of 15-19 year-olds in order to assess their risk for and resiliency against certain adverse health conditions.
The survey is funded by the United States Agency for International Development and the Ministry of Health, Jamaica and has been approved by the Research Ethics committees of the University of the West Indies and the Ministry of Health.
Properly identified, trained and certified field workers will visit eligible adolescents in pre-selected areas across the island. After obtaining informed consent, they will administer a questionnaire, measure blood pressure and body size (anthropometry) and take a finger-prick sample of blood, after an overnight fast, to measure glucose and cholesterol.
These data will be kept strictly confidential under the supervision of the principal investigator and data will be analyzed to produce information on groups and subgroups. No personal identifier information will be released.
These data will inform the MoH and USAID Indicators on the health and well-being of Jamaican adolescents and will be used to develop appropriate interventions including the development of programmes to engage in healthy lifestyles. The UWI and MoH encourages the public to cooperate with these field workers.