BOTTOM TOWN, Trelawny

Jamar Riley uses a stick to indicate the level of the stagnant water which has been a source of discontent among residents of Bottom Town. (Photo: Alan Lewin)

Health officials in this parish are moving to avert a looming outbreak of infectious diseases in this small community which has been plagued with a raft of social ills for quite sometime.

"The situation here is potentially dangerous... "If nothing is done in short order, then we are likely to have persons who will become very sick from leptospirosis which can cause death, diarrhoeal diseases which if not properly managed can also caused death, skin rashes which are very contagious, mosquito-borne diseases such and dengue and skin diseases such as tinea (ring worm)," medical officer of health (MOH) for the parish, Marcia Johnson Campbell warned on Tuesday.

Dr Johnson Campbell said the existing conditions in the community could lead to mental stress.

"Getting up each day and to look around and see garbage surround you, cannot be good for your mental health," said the MOH, who was assigned to the parish almost three years ago.

Medical Officer of Health (MOH) for Trelawny, Marcia Johnson Campbell.

The community of Bottom Town sits on approximately 15 acres of low-lying lands and is bordered by the Clarks Town main road to the East; Mac Hill district in the West and sections of the vast Long Pond Sugar Estate in the North.

The area accounts for roughly 1,500 persons. A large number of the working population is employed to the Long Pond Sugar Estate.

Bottom Town - like a few other communities in the parish - is beset by a plethora of social problems, including inadequate sewage disposal, flooding, unemployment, a high percentage of teenage pregnancy, a lack of proper garbage disposal system, poor road conditions, as well as a large number of dilapidated houses.

Two larger ponds in the community, - which boasts a basic school, several grocery shops and three churches - provide a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Two months ago, the community was placed under the microscope of the Trelawny Health Department, after the poor state of the densely populated area was brought to its attention.

"Health care workers who work in the community recognise that there seems to be a serious problem with garbage collection, stagnant water, with waste water being on the road and in particular drainage from pig pens and blocked drains," Johnson Campbell noted.

She said the health department has now realised that "enough is enough and that the situation has to stop now" and as such, is moving swiftly to prevent what could become a major catastrophe in the community.

Luckily, she added, so far there has not been an increase in any disease in the area.

" But we are not taking any chances," she stressed.
As part of the department's drive to address the ills of the community, several stakeholders including mayor of Falmouth and chairman of the Trelawny Parish Council, Colin Gager, member of parliament for the area Dr Patrick Harris, representatives from the National Environmental Planning Authority (NEPA), National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) and councillor for the area Fernandez 'Bingey' Smith, toured the community last Friday.

"What we discovered there was a lot of garbage, the drains were in a terrible state, the way the people rear their animals and dispose of their waste was appalling and this is of great concern to us," Gager said following the tour.