A 12‑strong UK Emergency Medical Team is on the ground in Jamaica, opening mobile clinics in Jackson Town, Ulster Spring and Wait‑A‑Bit, Trelawny, today, Monday 17 November. The mission-made up of GPs, nurses, midwives and logistics experts-aims to keep essential primary care moving after Category 5 Hurricane Melissa disrupted health services across the island.

Clinicians will treat injuries and infections, provide maternal health support, and refer the most serious cases to hospital-working alongside Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness to reinforce local capacity while facilities repair. The deployment follows a formal request from the Government of Jamaica. As UK Minister for the Caribbean Chris Elmore put it, the team will “provide vital treatment and care for those affected.”

The first clinics target communities where services have been interrupted and travel remains difficult. In nearby Falmouth, British personnel have supported emergency repairs at the public hospital, and a Spanish Type 2 Emergency Medical Team is now operating a fully equipped field hospital beside Falmouth Public General Hospital to restore theatre and inpatient capacity.

System pressures are severe. PAHO reports significant damage to multiple hospitals and dozens of community facilities, with Black River Hospital in St Elizabeth destroyed and Type 2 surgical teams deployed to fill gaps. National coordination remains at high alert while structural and WASH assessments continue across affected parishes.

The UK’s wider relief package has already delivered 6,560 shelter kits, 1,100 hygiene kits and more than 6,700 solar lanterns-reaching over 33,000 people. Royal Navy ship HMS Trent has been assisting ashore, including emergency works at Falmouth Hospital, as part of ongoing recovery support.

With floodwater receding, health risks shift to water‑ and mosquito‑borne disease. The UK is funding diagnostics, laboratory capacity and infection‑prevention supplies through CARPHA, while working with PAHO on disease surveillance and with UNICEF to restore safe water and sanitation in shelters and health facilities. CARPHA’s rapid assessment in Jamaica highlights immediate WASH challenges and the need to watch for dengue and gastroenteritis.

Climate context matters here. Rapid analysis by World Weather Attribution finds human‑driven warming increased Melissa’s peak winds by around 7% and intensified rainfall near its centre by about 16, with conditions for such a storm around six times more likely than in a pre‑industrial climate. This aligns with IPCC findings that the proportion of the most intense tropical cyclones and their rainfall rates increase as the planet warms.

Mobile clinics are a proven way to keep care within reach after extreme weather. Under WHO’s Emergency Medical Teams system, Type 1 mobile teams provide daylight‑hours primary care, triage, stabilisation and referral across multiple sites, standing up quickly and working to common standards for patient safety and coordination. That’s the model guiding today’s deployment.

This is a collective surge. WHO‑classified Emergency Medical Teams-including Americares and Heart to Heart International-are also operating in Jamaica, with Americares running a clinic in Chester Castle and HHI preparing services in Cambridge, St James. Together these add primary care and mental health capacity while hospitals get back on their feet.

What to watch next: expansion of clinic days as access improves; restoration of water supplies and cold chains; and stepped‑up vector control and surveillance to prevent outbreaks. PAHO has appealed for US$14.2 million to sustain health services, WASH and mental health support-funding that will help Jamaica’s recovery move faster and safer.