Once again, the health of the nation takes centre stage with an outbreak of conjunctivitis, popularly known as 'pink-eye', being reported in some parishes.

According to an article in THE STAR on Wednesday, there have been quite a number of cases in the Corporate Area and St Catherine.

It is shocking, however, that so many cases of the infections are being uncovered and there is still nothing from the Government informing the public of the infection and educating them about how to prevent it.

Emerging problem

Given the high number of persons who have been visiting the doctors because of the illness, it is clear that a problem is emerging. One doctor said in the article that he was seeing an average of a dozen persons with the infection per day.

What is causing the increased number of cases? Are specific people and communities at greater risk of contracting it and how can people protect themselves? These are all issues that the public is looking to the government to answer quickly.

And we expect the authorities to respond soon before there is a panic and the spread of the disease worsens.

From time to time, there have been outbreaks of other infections or illnesses and it is the information that people received from the authorities that helped to prevent the situation from worsening.

We hope the authorities will not wait any longer to respond to the situation and will soon be providing information for the public to prevent any further spread of the infection.