Kingston, 16 September 2022 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has reaffirmed Jamaica’s commitment to supporting the promotion of clean sport and the work of the World Anti-Doping Agency in the Caribbean region. 

Minister Grange gave the reassurance in a brief virtual exchange with the President of WADA, Mr Witold Bank, this morning.

The Sport Minister also told the WADA chief that, “I am going on my own mobilisation campaign to get Caribbean sport ministers to participate in the WADA Virtual Forum with ministers responsible for sport in the Caribbean, scheduled for October 12, 2022.”

President Banka commended Jamaica for the “excellent work being done in the area of anti-doping” and indicated that WADA described the country’s anti-doping programme as “exemplary”. 

He explained that while WADA has been working closely with national anti-doping organisations across the world, one of the strategic objectives of the Agency was to engage with the ministers of sport of countries who are signatory to the WADA Code as they influenced policy in those countries. 

As such, WADA has been hosting virtual consultations across several regions.  In each of these sessions, a signatory country is approached and asked to share their experience with their colleagues. 

In the Caribbean region, 19 countries that are signatory to the Code have been invited by WADA to participate in a virtual forum in October. Because of Jamaica’s leadership in the region in sport policy, the promotion of clean sport and establishment of a robust anti-doping programme, Minister Grange has been asked to share Jamaica’s experience in the process for establishment as well as highlighting, from a Government perspective, challenges faced and the measures employed by Jamaica to overcome such challenges.

In April of this year, at the Sports Council of the Americas (CADE), the Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Alando Terrelonge, representing Minister Grange, expressed Jamaica’s commitment to promoting and advocating for greater participation in CADE. 

CADE brings together sport ministers and other senior government officials from the Americas and facilitates intergovernmental dialogue among nation states of UNESCO, focusing on policies dealing with the elimination of doping in sport, the hosting of regional and international sport competitions and the promotion and building of sport for development.
 
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