The Adopt-A-Clinic Programme is a structured arrangement that seeks to engage the private sector locally and the Diaspora to play a critical role in improving the provision and access to Primary Health Care via the philanthropic support to a pool of 100 public health centres identified for Adoption.

Primary Health Care in Jamaica is delivered through a network of over 320 Community Health Centres spread across the nation’s 14 parishes. Most facilities were built in the 1970s, and Jamaica received global recognition from the World Health Organization (WHO) then for its best practices in Primary Health Care.

Over the past few years the Government of Jamaica has invested on refurbishing and equipping 150 of these health centres, but many challenges persist due to limiting space at health centres, increased population, change in demographics and epidemiological profile, deteriorating infrastructure, inadequate maintenance, aging equipment and the limited fiscal resources of the government.

Philanthropic assistance in over the past years has made a very important contribution to the health sector in Jamaica. In recent years the value of charitable contributions of tangible goods to the Jamaican health sector ranged from J$700M (US$5.6M) to J$1.3B (US$10.3M).

The Adopt-A-Clinic Programme is a strategic initiative that seeks to proactively leverage the philanthropic support of the private sector and diaspora to play a more critical role in improving the very important Primary Health Care System.