MINISTER of Health Dr Christopher Tufton has called on newly certified dieticians to become ambassadors for the Jamaica Moves campaign.

“Your vocation, your willingness to engage and to develop your capacity makes you the chief advocates of health and wellness from that dietary position. You are going to create that balance that is going to be necessary for Jamaica Moves, and any such similar programme, to achieve its full potential,” he said.

He was speaking at the graduation ceremony for 50 people trained under the Supervised Practice Programme (SPP) of the Jamaica Association of Professionals in Nutrition and Dietetics held on Tuesday at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston.

The graduates, most of whom work in health departments in the public sector, were the first cohort to be trained under the programme, which is endorsed by the ministry.

Over the 30-month course, the participants had to attend classes, do rotations, write assignments, and do a panel examination with the Final Competence Assessment Team (FCAT).

“Because you are the first batch, it makes you that much more special. I am assigning you and prescribing to you, the ambassadors for this cause of health and wellness,” Dr Tufton said.

“We have to convert and get more people involved, and the extent to which you have reach [in] the different institutions, different communities… the extent to which you can provide guidance, is the extent to which your role becomes so much more important in promoting the balance that is required to get our country back on track,” he added.

Corporal Terrel Pencle of the Jamaica Defence Force, who was the only male graduate, said he is elated to be part of the inaugural group, which received certification.

“I now get the privilege and the honour to impact the lives of Jamaicans in another way,” he added.

Jamaica Moves encourages citizens to eat healthy and exercise in order to prevent non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular conditions, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes.