Michael Leslie, acting executive director of the Jamaica Cancer Society (JCS), is reporting that its recent prostate cancer campaign to ramp up screenings in the parishes of St James, Portland, and Manchester was a success.

To commemorate Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, which is observed annually in September, Guardian Life had donated J$1.5 million to the JCS to increase awareness and screenings for the disease.

Leslie, who gave an update on the recent prostate screening exercise conducted in the three parishes, said: “We started the process by going to Montego Bay, we did almost 400 men in Montego Bay, we moved on to Mandeville, where we did a 100 men in Mandeville and we went on to Port Antonio where we did about 70 men so basically I consider it very successful.”

He said that the JCS was deliberate in choosing these parishes because the aim is to increase prostate cancer screening in underserved communities.

“We have chosen to do it differently this year. Instead of going and doing screening in Kingston, we thought it fit to go to the rural parishes because we have been doing Kingston all the years, where we have a big day in Kingston and we do 200 men, but we thought we needed to go to the underserved communities of Portland, Manchester and Montego Bay and it was successful,” he said.

Prostate cancer affects the prostate gland and occurs when the cells within begin to grow out of control. It is one of the most common cancers in Jamaica and is ranked amongst those that account for the most deaths.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, there were 1,561 new cases of prostate cancer in Jamaica in 2020.

READ: Guardian Life donates $1.5m towards prostate cancer screenings, public education campaign