Jamaica scores highest in Caribbean on UNDP electoral democracy index as cabinet rolls out school menstrual pilot

Kingston, 15 May 2026 — Jamaica again sits at the top of the Caribbean table on the United Nations Development Programme’s 2025 Electoral Democracy Index, with a score of 0.88 on the zero-to-one scale used to track elected leadership, credible polls, speech and association rights, voting access, and citizen participation. Officials note the country has stayed above a regional band of about 0.75 to 0.82 since the 1990s, and that survey work still finds a majority of Jamaicans regarding democracy as the best form of government despite nagging doubts about how well institutions perform day to day.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says a multi-sector national menstrual health equity pilot will start in eight schools and reach roughly 2,000 girls, working with the education ministry plus civic and multilateral partners such as UNICEF and the Herflow Foundation. School picks lean on PATH enrolment figures, and planners expect lessons on water and sanitation upgrades, HPV immunisation, hygiene teaching, and HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention to feed a wider policy push on period poverty and adolescent wellness.

In western Hanover, Member of Parliament Heather Miller Bennett joined agencies on Thursday for a recovery fair at Lucy United Church aimed at people who lost vital paperwork when Hurricane Melissa struck. Residents could start replacing birth and marriage certificates, passports, National Insurance Scheme cards, and land titles without repeated trips to distant offices.

Superintendent Rowan Ritchie, who leads the St Thomas Police Division, used a municipal corporation meeting to plead with motorists—especially younger drivers—to ease off the throttle, citing a spike in road deaths at the start of the year and extra patrols paired with public education.

Non-profit programme Project Star, now preparing a fifth year of neighbourhood work after launching in 2022, credits community-led planning for sharp crime drops, including a reported 46 percent fall in Mapen and an earlier 80 percent plunge in Parade Gardens. Director Saffrey Brown told reporters the team paired with the United Nations Development Programme after Melissa, rolling out cash-for-care and cash-for-work schemes, and posts quarterly transparency reports online.

On the Popeye’s Challenge Cup trail, Lime Hall FC defeated Portland’s Wi‑Fi United 2-0 on Wednesday night at the Drax Hall Sports Complex, with Diego McKenzie netting in the 33rd minute and again after a goalkeeper spill to send the St Ann side through. CVM TV schedules a 19 May double-header pairing Sets Elite against Lime Hall and Humble Lion against Med Forest.

Wolmer’s Trust High School marks 297 years since its 1729 founding bequest from John Wolmer and will use Wolmer’s Day on Thursday 21 May to open three years of events counting down to a 300th anniversary in 2029, the first Jamaican school granted an official calendar day by the governor general in 2019. Separately, National Children’s Day observances on set highlighted sensory-rich party rentals from True Luxury Kids founder Trisha Beichum, who said curated inflatables, ball pits, and personalised keepsakes can be arranged on roughly a week’s notice for toddlers through adults.

Guardian Group’s Shine night run-walk is slated for Saturday 23 May in Kingston and Saturday 30 May in Montego Bay to support Kingston Public Hospital, Falmouth Hospital, and Project Star.