According to a member of the Secretariat of Primary Attention from the health ministry, currently there are two big gaps in services provision which motivate priority actions. These gaps are the neurodevelopment (early childhood) and the neurodegeneration (older people living with dementia).

Not applicable, there is no clear information or specific evidence could be found at the time of this desk review (March 2020).

Not applicable.

The development of an LTC system is driven by the ADB. ‘The country diagnostic studies conducted… in six countries (Indonesia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, and Vietnam) have revealed large deficits in LTC services, especially those providing affordable and quality care. In each country, developing community-based services has emerged as a priority’ (ADB, 2020).

References:

ADB. (2020). Regional: Developing Innovative Community-Based Long-Term Care Systems and Services. https://www.adb.org/projects/53370-001/main

On-going developments around dementia policy are currently being driven by the Jamaica GDO Oversight Committee, which is comprised of the full STRiDE Jamaica project team, the PAHO Advisor for NCDs and Mental Health and the Director of Mental Health at the Ministry of Health, who also serves as the GDO national representative. This group of stakeholders is driven by the goals of the STRiDE project as well as the deliverables of the GDO data collection drive and are motivated by a shared interest in dementia and a need to bring together various silos of dementia-related information or relevant resources in order to have a streamlined, organised and formalised understanding of and a plan on dementia and dementia care.

It is also being driven by the STRiDE JA National Advisory Group, which advises on the feasibility and relevance of work being done on the ground in Jamaica by the STRiDE Dementia Research Project. It also holds researchers accountable for project deliverables and advocates for local dementia-related research and initiatives, including, quite notably, a national dementia policy. The Advisory Group comprises representatives from organisations that are involved in or responsible for national policy; including the National Health Fund; the Inter-American Development Bank; Healthy Caribbean Coalition, the National Council for Senior Citizens as well as key stakeholders including the Jamaica Council of Churches, caregivers of persons living with dementia and a person living with dementia. The Group has agreed to support the public call for a national dementia policy and to use its resources and expertise to contribute to the feasible, sustainable development and implementation of same.

The Government of Kenya is committed to supporting community health initiatives and accelerating the achievement of the Kenya Health Strategic Sector goals and providing support to Vision 2030 (Ministry of Health, 2014b). The Kenyan Government developmental initiatives, such as the Big4 Agenda and Vision 2030, must be realized by empowering communities to lead their own development (The Movement for Community-led Development, 2019).

References:

Ministry of Health. (2014b). Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) basic modules handbook. http://guidelines.health.go.ke:8000/media/CHV_handbook_PDF-F.pdf

The Movement for Community-led Development. (2019). The Community-led Development (CLD) Movement Launches Kenya Chapter. https://mcld.org/2019/01/30/launching-the-kenya-chapter/

Not applicable.

N/A

Not applicable.