Skin lightening/ bleaching is a big deal in the Jamaican society. It is such a big deal that the Ministry of Health (MOH) saw it important to embrace a campaign geared at its discouragement in February 2007.

The practice is very serious because it addresses common concerns about our yearning for beauty. During the period of the MOHs campaign which denounced skin bleaching, then Minister, Hon. Horace Dally articulated the seriousness of the situation in the following way, Skin bleaching has become a fast and risky way for young men and women to become beautiful.

With the association with beauty, skin bleaching has become extremely popular. We all have a desire to feel and be perceived as beautiful, and as such my concerns about how to discourage people from it. We saw in another article that health concerns werent enough to discourage bleachers. After all, doesnt it make us feel better about ourselves and the way the world sees us? It seems like an uphill battle to metrying to convince our citizenry to stop destroying their beautiful black skin when the color cards are staked up against them.

The root cause of contemporary skin bleaching practicesstigma and discrimination against Jamaicans of African decentmust be addressed if we are to ward off a skin cancer epidemic in our country. Skin cancer is reported as one of the major causes of death amongst Jamaican citizens and therefore it is just a matter of time before we have a full blown epidemic on our hands. We must therefore strive to change behavior by addressing physical, mental, and symbolic remnants of light-skinned superiority and dark-skinned inferiority which contributes to low self-esteem and confidence.

Our solution to the problem lies in our need to examine what is being done nationally to increase and inspire confidence about the beauty of the black skin and denounce the age old belief/ saying, Nutten Black nuh Good !