{"id":359763,"date":"2026-04-17T09:06:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=359763"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:06:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:06:23","slug":"open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Disclaimer<\/strong>: The views, and claims, expressed in this letter are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of Duravision Inc., Dominica News Online, or any of its subsidiary brands.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why is it so difficult to get a response from a Ministry which, more than most, should have a sense of timeliness, if not urgency?<\/p>\n

This week, we are celebrating Dr. Carissa Etienne, a Dominican whose success as a health professional took her to the highest health managerial role in our region, Director of the Pan American Health Organization.<\/p>\n

She steered that office to leverage significant attention to the Caribbean, arguably more so than any of her predecessors. She is the only Director in the history of PAHO to have been returned unanimously for a second term.
\nWhat would she think of the Ministry she knew so well?<\/p>\n

The Ministry is facing a constitutional challenge to the abortion law. If the High Court finds the law unconstitutional, the Ministry will be obliged to care for patients. This will involve being respectful of patients\u2019 rights and staff members\u2019 rights alike.<\/p>\n

We should not underestimate the magnitude of this moment. The Court can change the law; but the Ministry will be up against a far greater challenge: confronting and transforming the great stigmatization of abortion. That means facing the main agent of this unkindness, the church. Politicians fear the church.<\/p>\n

Providing an abortion service will be a contentious matter demanding sensitive regard for values on all sides. Mindful of the enormity of this challenge, we have offered to share our research findings with leaders in MOHWSS so we can begin this discussion. Our offers have gone unanswered for years.<\/p>\n

Without preparation, once the court declares its decision, the Ministry will be caught flat-footed and unprepared.<\/p>\n

On a different front, we also asked the Ministry to address the plight of adolescent reproductive health. Dominica\u2019s adolescent fertility is above the Caribbean average.\u00a0 We asked them to consider simple actions taken in five other Caribbean countries. And again, we have had no response. Not even the courtesy of an acknowledgment.<\/p>\n

We truly hope that everyone else is hearing from MOHWSS in a timely manner. It would be very sad indeed if our experience of unresponsiveness was typical of what we once called the public \u2018service\u2019.<\/p>\n

This culture of indifference and insensitivity is not the environment in which Dr. Carissa Etienne was nurtured.
\nSincerely,
\nASPIRE<\/p>\n

ASPIRE is a pro-motherhood, pro-family, pro-choice, non-governmental advocacy group registered in Dominica and five other Caribbean countries. It promotes research and dialogue with civil society and governments to advance fairness and justice in reproductive health.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"    Disclaimer: The views, and claims, expressed in this letter are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of Duravision Inc., Dominica News Online, or any of its subsidiary brands. Why is it so difficult…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":359769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-359763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOpen Letter to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Open Letter to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Disclaimer: The views, and claims, expressed in this letter are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of Duravision Inc., Dominica News Online, or any of its subsidiary brands. Why is it so difficult...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"Malaika\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-17T13:06:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pexels-hashtag-melvin-1163687-5648801-e1776430152386.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/838be977f4b17551ad9c04956d985730\"},\"headline\":\"Open Letter to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-17T13:06:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":451,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/pexels-hashtag-melvin-1163687-5648801-e1776430152386.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"Homepage Carousel\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/\",\"name\":\"Open Letter to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services - Dominica News Online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/pexels-hashtag-melvin-1163687-5648801-e1776430152386.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-17T13:06:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/838be977f4b17551ad9c04956d985730\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/pexels-hashtag-melvin-1163687-5648801-e1776430152386.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/pexels-hashtag-melvin-1163687-5648801-e1776430152386.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1050},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/news\\\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Open Letter to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dominica News Online\",\"description\":\"The most popular news site in the Commonwealth of Dominica\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/838be977f4b17551ad9c04956d985730\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4b11ff91eab40baceecc540954738e081ab038af9a7180b8c43b4d0fbb743caa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4b11ff91eab40baceecc540954738e081ab038af9a7180b8c43b4d0fbb743caa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4b11ff91eab40baceecc540954738e081ab038af9a7180b8c43b4d0fbb743caa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"Malaika\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/malaika\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Open Letter to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services - Dominica News Online","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Open Letter to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services - Dominica News Online","og_description":"    Disclaimer: The views, and claims, expressed in this letter are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of Duravision Inc., Dominica News Online, or any of its subsidiary brands. Why is it so difficult...","og_url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/","og_site_name":"Dominica News Online","article_author":"Malaika","article_published_time":"2026-04-17T13:06:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1050,"url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pexels-hashtag-melvin-1163687-5648801-e1776430152386.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/"},"author":{"name":"Admin","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/838be977f4b17551ad9c04956d985730"},"headline":"Open Letter to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services","datePublished":"2026-04-17T13:06:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/"},"wordCount":451,"commentCount":2,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pexels-hashtag-melvin-1163687-5648801-e1776430152386.jpg","articleSection":["Health","Homepage Carousel","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/","name":"Open Letter to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services - Dominica News Online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pexels-hashtag-melvin-1163687-5648801-e1776430152386.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-17T13:06:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/838be977f4b17551ad9c04956d985730"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pexels-hashtag-melvin-1163687-5648801-e1776430152386.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pexels-hashtag-melvin-1163687-5648801-e1776430152386.jpg","width":1920,"height":1050},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/news\/open-letter-to-the-ministry-of-health-wellness-and-social-services\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Open Letter to the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/","name":"Dominica News Online","description":"The most popular news site in the Commonwealth of Dominica","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/838be977f4b17551ad9c04956d985730","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4b11ff91eab40baceecc540954738e081ab038af9a7180b8c43b4d0fbb743caa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4b11ff91eab40baceecc540954738e081ab038af9a7180b8c43b4d0fbb743caa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4b11ff91eab40baceecc540954738e081ab038af9a7180b8c43b4d0fbb743caa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"sameAs":["Malaika"],"url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/author\/malaika\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pexels-hashtag-melvin-1163687-5648801-e1776430152386.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359763"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":359771,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359763\/revisions\/359771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}