Rumours of two Mpox cases in the Cayman Islands are spreading widely, but the Ministry of Health and Wellness has firmly refuted these claims. The ministry clarified that this information is false, not issued by them, and urged the public to rely on accurate sources for information.
Currently, there are no reported cases of clade I Mpox in the Caribbean. The region’s limited travel links to affected areas help minimise the immediate risk. However, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is advising increased vigilance.
Dr. Lisa Indar, Ad Interim Executive Director at CARPHA, commented, “CARPHA is monitoring the situation closely. The current risk to the Caribbean population from Mpox clade 1b is low to moderate, as no cases of Mpox have been identified in the CARPHA Member States. However, the identification of the first case of clade 1b outside of Africa is a warning call for public health authorities to be vigilant and necessitates enhanced surveillance by all Caribbean countries, inclusive of monitoring of incoming passengers, and rapid/early identification of potential cases, and a well-coordinated regional and international response.”
Earlier in the week, Dr. Melissa Dias-Musa, Belize’s Director of Public Health and Wellness, announced the re-sensitisation of healthcare teams in the country following the Mpox public health emergency declaration.
Meanwhile, Jamaica’s Minister of Health & Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton, convened a meeting today with the technical team from the Ministry and the four regional health authorities in preparation for the possible re-introduction of Mpox in the country. Dr. Tufton emphasised that “in non-endemic countries, such as Jamaica, one case is considered an outbreak.”
The 2024 Wanderlust Travel Awards are just around the corner and this year, Belize is nominated in the ‘Most Desirable Country’ category. The awards allow travelers to vote for their favourite destinations and promote them to potential visitors. The Belize Tourism Board is encouraging Belizeans to visit WanderlustMagazine’s Website and vote before it closes on October eighteenth. We spoke with B.T.B. marketing manager, Gale Malik-Ozaeta, for more details on the award.
Gale Malik-Ozaeta
Gale Malik-Ozaeta, Marketing Manager, B.T.B.
“The Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards is the UK’s longest running and largest travel magazine by circulation. And we normally do campaigns with different publications around the world. And so it means a lot for us to be nominated. First of all they exist to inform and inspire travelers globally to take the road less travelled. And Belize first being known as the mother nature’s best kept secret, there are still a lot of paths less traveled in Belize. And so this year, they’re celebrating their twenty-three years and we have been nominated for the category most desirable country to the rest of the world. Voting is open right now, and it closes October eighteenth, 2024. Now, this is not the first time we’ve been nominated for a Wanderlust Reader Travel Award. We have actually won in the past. In 2023, we won silver for best emerging destination, and in 2022, we won silver for most desirable emerging destination. So we are encouraging everybody to go out and vote. We are pushing it on our social channels and through all our partners to vote for Belize so that this year we may be able to walk away with the gold. UK is one of our emerging markets. It’s, we do have visitors that travel to Belize from the UK, but not as much as the other destinations. When we compare our visitor numbers to the U. S. and to Canada, it’s a lot. Far less for UK and Europe on a whole. And so, the publicity or that this opportunity brings to the destination, it’s very welcoming because there are, Wanderlust has a lot of readers, a lot of readers who may have never heard of them, about Belize, readers who are thinking about Belize, but don’t know exactly where to go or what to do.”
On 14 August 2024, Mexico’s Sistema Nacional de Vigilancia Epidemiológica (SINAVE) issued an epidemiological alert regarding the recent rise in Mpox (Monkeypox) cases in the Africa Region, specifically related to Clade I. This alert follows a global increase in cases during the outbreak.
SINAVE highlighted the increased risk of Mpox cases in Mexico due to global outbreaks, especially in Africa, where population movement is high. According to SINAVE’s report, there have been 7,385 reported cases of Mpox in Mexico since 2022, with 4,130 confirmed. From 1 January to 5 August 2024, 212 cases were reported, 49 of which were confirmed across 11 states, with no fatalities confirmed. The report outlines the distribution of these cases across Mexico, with the state of Quintana Roo having the most cases confirmed.
The 49 cases are not related to the new subvariant, Clade 1b, spreading in Africa, which WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern on August 14.
A probable case is any individual, regardless of age or gender, who exhibits symptoms like fever, muscle pain, headache, swollen lymph nodes, fatigue, joint pain, or lower back pain accompanied by one or more lesions, such as macules, papules, vesicles, pustules, or scabs.
Mexican health officials urged continued vigilance, strict adherence to current epidemiological surveillance protocols and prompt reporting to manage the outbreak effectively.
Today representatives of the ministries of Sustainable Development and Climate Change, Blue Economy, Fisheries and Natural Resources met in a briefing session to discuss regional cooperation and the implementation of projects. Some of these have to do with the Mesoamerica Reef Project, among others. Focal points for the relevant departments and ministries gathered to get a broader understanding of these projects and how Belize can maximize its gains and benefits from those initiatives.
Orlando Habet
Orlando Habet, Minister of Climate Change & Disaster Risk Management
“We have smaller projects, which we implement right now, for example, in the region. We have another project, too, which is coming upstream, which is among Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico. It’s a landscape project to look at the region. Belize, the entire country of Belize is considered Selvamaya, so we’re looking at that from that perspective. But it looks at landscape, also looks at livelihoods, and certainly some areas of conservation. We have on stream a project which Belize was not directly a part of, which is the Dry Corridor project. We have been pushing as much as we can to be part of that regional project. For some reason or the other, a hundred and seventy-nine million US dollars, and the G.C.F. and Belize was not involved, but when I came into office, we found out about the project and we have been pushing to get the project. Now that it has been approved, we have been able to gain and get some benefits out of the project even though we are not part of the project per se. We have projects that are funded through G.C.F. Another project that will start is handled regionally. We have done the first phase, which was for the river. But now we are looking at the second project to be able to do that reef to reef project where we can help to mitigate the problems that go from inland into the rivers, streams and then eventually into the ocean.”
For yet another year, Channel Five and its team of reporters, cameramen and editors have made the company and the country proud. This year, Channel Five’s team won eight awards and two special mentions at the Caribbean Broadcasting Union’s thirty-fifth Caribbean Media Awards on Tuesday night. The awards in the television category for which we won include Best News Story, Best News Item on Poverty Reduction and Empowerment of Vulnerable Groups, Best Sports Story, Best Magazine Program, Best Investigative Item in the Digital Content category, Best Climate Change News Item, Best Commercial Spot, Special mention for our Open Your Eyes Morning Show, Special mention for Best Investigative Item in the digital category. We also received the award for Best Director and Best Sound Engineer. News Five’s Marion Ali put together this story on the award winners.
Marion Ali, Reporting
It was a momentous occasion in Placencia on Tuesday night, as the name Great Belize Television was repeatedly announced. It was the Caribbean Media Awards ceremony for excellence in journalism. The reporters and videographers who submitted excellent news stories in 2023 to the CBU were announced. Adding to the team’s success were winning categories in sound engineering, producer and digital content. Reporter Paul Lopez walked away with three of those awards, including one in Health Education Journalism with a story titled “Bridging the Gaps of Mental Illness Treatment” with videographer, Chris Mangar.
Paul Lopez
Paul Lopez, C.B.U. Award Winner
“When I heard my name called for the first time, I was definitely surprised. I think the first one was Best News Item and I could recall now walking up on stage and getting a bit emotional because when you’re there it’s completely different than when you watch it on a live stream like we have been doing for years. To be there and to actually receive this award on stage and having all those reflections and flashbacks of my journey, career journey, as well as my personal journey, I don’t think there’s anything like it and no other feeling, at least up to this point in my life, no greater feeling.”
Lopez also won the Best News Story for Television with a story titled “A Competency-Based Approach to Education in Belize” with Darrell Moguel and Kenroy Michael as videographers, and George Tillett as editor. Lopez’s third winning piece was in the Best Sports Story for Television with George Tillett as videographer.
Hipolito Novelo won the Best Climate Change News Item, along with videographer Darrel Moguel for a story titled “Cultivating Hope: Belize’s Seaweed Farming Industry Takes Root.”
Hipolito Novelo
Hipolito Novelo, C.B.U. Award Winner
“In this particular story, we focus on TNC’s aim to empower women down south, so what we did is we went down south, we saw the women and the participants participating in how to create their own seaweed farm and the benefits that come along with seaweed.”
Marion Ali
“What kind of challenges did you have, if any?”
Hipolito Novelo
“There weren’t any challenges, per se. I mean, the sun mi hot, you get sunburn up, so I think that was the only challenge we had. I can’t swim, so I remained in the boat. I couldn’t see. I, we couldn’t dive to see exactly what they were doing underwater, but we got some footage on T.N.C. and the women explained to us what exactly they were doing in terms of trying to tie the rope and in terms of planting the seaweed branches there.”
Novelo also received a special mention for the Best Investigative Item in the Digital content category. In the Best Magazine Program for Television, Open Your Eyes received a Special Mention for its “Easter Special” with hosts, Sabreena Daly and John Palacio and producers, Viannie Reyes and Brianna Bennett. The videographers for this show were Rick Romero and Joel Wesbey. Great Belize Productions Ltd and producer, videographer, Rick Romero also won in the Best Commercial Spot with a piece called “UNITEX: No Worries With A Spark Beach Cruiser”
Rick Romero
Rick Romero, C.B.U. Award Winner
“The commercial for this year was for a company called Unitex Belize, so we did a commercial on the beach cruiser that they are advertising. It’s a little boy, you know, riding a bike in traffic and saying he gets to school on time because he rides a beach cruiser, right? So it’s a cute little commercial. It’s a challenge, you know, in this business, to top your previous work and to come up with new ideas, whether it be for a story, a commercial, a documentary, you know. After all these years I’ve been doing this, it’s easy, but it’s also very challenging because you have to find new ways of telling stories.”
Romero also won the award for Best Director for television. The award for Best News Story on Poverty Reduction & Empowerment of Vulnerable Groups went to Duane Moody, who is no longer with us. He won that award with videographers Darrel Moguel and Rick Romero. And the Best Sound Engineer for television went to Luis Sosa.
Luis Sosa
Luis Sosa, C.B.U. Award Winner
“I feel very honored and very happy to have won my first award as a TV song technician, as you know, that you could have good video, but not good song and that don’t go together well. I do it every day, so it wasn’t that difficult, just a matter of, you know, getting the sound right on the TV, mixing board, you know, and I did it with the steel pan with Alex Evans, and he’s a professional, so it wasn’t that hard.”
The winners were selected from among four hundred and forty-four submissions in several categories in print, radio, television and digital media. Channel Five’s CEO, Marleni Cuellar puts the fierceness of the competition into perspective.
Marleni Cuellar
Marleni Cuellar, C.E.O., Channel 5
“There were over four hundred entries into this year’s CMAs and the awards submissions, the numbers just keep growing and growing and the competition keeps getting tighter and tighter. And so the pressure is definitely there to be able to keep up to standard with what we have always been capable of achieving. I am incredibly proud for my team that Secure these awards and for the extended support team at Channel 5 that works to be able to keep the environment conducive to creating these types of awards.”
Climate and Environmental Journalist from Trinidad, Kalain Hosein, who won several awards in 2023, said on Open Your Eyes today that he was happy that the Caribbean Broadcast Union decided on creating an award category for environmental journalism.
“We heard yesterday at several of their panels about how the media landscape has changed and how editors should be prioritizing environment, weather climate stories as well, especially when they impact so many people across the region. It doesn’t come as a surprise to me because if you have been following, a lot of the CARICOM Heads of Government meetings, they have been putting climate change at the forefront of many of their discussions and it seems to be a topic that has gained regional prominence.”
The awards ceremony for the 2024 winners will be held in Barbados next year. Marion Ali for News Five.
The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) has again partnered with the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, which is holding its 55th Annual General Assembly (AGA) and 35th CBU Caribbean Media Awards in Placencia, Belize. CCCCC is the sponsor of seven climate change categories in the media awards. This marks the second consecutive year of the CCCCC’s sponsorship in these categories.
The CCCCC, with funding from the EU-GCCA+ Project, is today hosting a media forum on climate change as the culmination of an impactful media engagement program that began in 2023. This forum coincides with the Caribbean Broadcasting Union’s (CBU) annual general assembly and awards ceremony, where the CCCCC will present awards for excellence in climate change coverage.
The forum aims to enhance knowledge of climate change impacts in the Caribbean, increase media interest and capacity for better climate change reporting, and present preliminary findings from a content analysis of entries in the 2022 and 2023 CCCCC-CBU climate change media awards.
The CCCCC brought together 13 journalists for the forum.
The workshop began with welcome remarks by Dr. Claire Grant, President of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), followed by introductions and an icebreaker led by Tecla Fontenard. Dr. Colin Young, Executive Director of CCCCC, presented on current climate change facts and essential knowledge, which was followed by a plenary session for questions and discussions. After a brief break, the workshop resumed with a presentation and discussion on strengthening media coverage of climate change, delivered by Dr. Cleveland Sam, Director of Communications at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). This was followed by a presentation on covering climate change by Tecla Fontenard, Communications Specialist at CCCCC.
After lunch, the workshop continued with a content analysis of excellence in climate coverage, examining notable entries from the 2022 and 2023 CCCCC/CBU Climate Change themed media awards. This session, led by Steve Maximay, a member of the CBU CMA Judging Panel, included examples of award-winning content, lessons learnt, and best practices for media coverage. The day concluded with plenary discussions on the content presentation and closing remarks by Danelle De Coteau-Campbell, Lead Communications Specialist at CCCCC.
Belize is hosting this year’s Caribbean Broadcast Union’s 55th Annual General Assembly in Placencia from August 11–14. The keynote speaker is Belize’s Prime Minister, John Briceño. The AGM is being held under the theme ‘Media and the Environment’.
The opening ceremony takes place tonight at the Naia Resort and Spa and will be broadcast by Great Belize Productions (News 5). The 35th Caribbean Media Awards is scheduledto take place on Tuesday night at the same venue.
In 2024, the CBU Secretariat set a new record, receiving 484 submissions across 63 categories from 34 organisations representing 13 countries and territories in the Dutch, English, and Spanish Caribbean.
The single outlet with the highest number of nominations is Great Belize Productions Limited. GBPL’s television service, Channel 5, garnered twenty-five (25) nominations.
One of the sponsors of this year’s CBU award is the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC). The Centre is sponsoring seven climate change categories. “The CCCCC’s sponsorship underscores its commitment to promoting climate change education and advocacy through diverse media channels.”
“The CCCCC is proud to support these CBU awards to celebrate media excellence in climate change,” said Dr. Colin Young, Executive Director of the CCCCC. In addition to the awards, the CCCCC, in collaboration with the CBU, is hosting a regional media forum on climate change on August 12. This forum encourages more extensive coverage of climate issues, underscoring the media’s vital role in climate reporting. Participants for the forum began arriving in Belize on Saturday. On Sunday, the group travelled to Laughing Bird Caye off the coast of Placencia to familiarise themselves with the work that Fragments of Hope is doing, specifically coral restoration at different sites.
Fragments of Hope is a community-based organisation in Placencia, Belize, dedicated to the restoration of coral reef habitats and the sustainable management of associated ecosystems. They have been particularly successful in their efforts at Laughing Bird Caye National Park, where they have outplanted about 96,000 nursery-grown coral fragments.
Coral bleaching is a significant issue affecting reefs worldwide. It occurs when corals, stressed by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing them to turn white and often leading to coral death. Fragments of Hope focusses on re-seeding reefs with resilient coral species to help them recover from such events.
Monique Vernon of Fragments of Hope told reporters that the organisation employs several methods to restore corals. “Right now, the one we are focussing on is using cement. We would mix cement. Put those in those ziploc bags and then we would have divers waiting for those with corals. Basically, it’s going and finding a sturdy area…there is a criteria how we go about selecting a site to restore. Once all of that is checked we go to that site and basically, we take the same cement, put it on a study dead coral and then we attach a live fragmented coral in that.” Monitoring efforts continue.
The Caribbean journalists also had the opportunity to snorkel and see first-hand the works of Fragments of Hope.
Forensic authorities in the Dominican Republic are working to identify the remains of 14 decomposed bodies discovered on an abandoned boat 10 nautical miles off the northern coast. The Dominican Republic Navy reported that the skeletal remains likely belong to individuals from Senegal and Mauritania, based on documentation found alongside the bodies.
The cause and timing of the deaths are under investigation, with authorities also examining 12 packages of an unidentified substance found on the vessel, which allegedly indicate cocaine or heroin. Cell phones and geolocation devices were also recovered from the boat.
The bodies are currently being analysed by the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF) in Santiago, while the substance is being tested by the National Directorate of Drug Control, according to officials Nairobi Viloria and Carlos Devers.
Jamaica is celebrating 62 years of independence with vibrant celebrations across the island. Today commemorates Jamaica’s liberation from British colonial rule up until August 6, 1962. The day is a tribute to Jamaica’s rich cultural heritage and a celebration of its evolution from a colonial outpost to a sovereign nation.
The island is not only renowned for its unique flag and musical legacy but also for its efforts in economic development, environmental sustainability, and cultural impact. In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Andrew Holness echoed the enduring vision of Jamaica’s first Prime Minister, Sir Alexander Bustamante, stating, “Let us resolve to work together to build a Jamaica that will last and of which we and the generations to follow may be proud.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Belize congratulated Jamaica on social media, stating, “Your global impact in sports, music, the arts, your regional leadership, and your support for Haiti are all commendable. We stand in solidarity and look forward to continued collaboration for a brighter future.”
Venezuela’s Nicholas Maduro has claimed another victory at the polls, securing another six years in office as president. If this is so, Maduro defeated his main opponent by seven percentage points in a vote that was marred by widespread irregularities. But the opposition is saying that Maduro clearly lost the elections, demanding an audit of the exercise. Now seven regional countries have called for that audit and while there was a resolution at the O.A.S. following the elections, Belize abstained. Minister of Foreign Affairs says Belize wants more information on the election results before it can have a position on who is the new president.
Francis Fonseca
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“There was a resolution that was proposed before the Organization of American States. Belize abstained in terms of that resolution because we really want to get more information. We’re not satisfied that we’ve been provided with sufficient, reliable information so we join with those who say we need more transparency. We need more information provided, more data provided. So far the Venezuelan Government has said that they will provide that data and information. We expect them to do so. So we are prepared to wait for that to be done – a reasonable time period – but again, when we’re dealing with these issues, we have always found in Belize that it’s best for us to work through the organizations that we belong to, like CARICOM and SICA. So we’ve discussed this matter at the CARICOM level, not yet at SICA. Obviously there are different points of view but the great majority of the CARICOM countries abstained from that resolution for the very reasons I stated, that they need to see more information. They need to have more data presented to them. We are absolutely committed in CARICOM and as Belize to ensuring that there are free and fair elections in Venezuela, that’s critically important.”
