Jamaica has made progress towards beefing up drug-testing and repairing its tarnished sprinting reputation following a string of doping scandals, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency told Reuters.

WADA president Sir Craig Reedie arrived in Jamaica on Friday to check on the Caribbean sprint capital’s anti-doping efforts after high-profile positive tests around the 2012 London Olympics raised red flags over the island’s drug-testing.

Reedie, the first WADA president to visit Jamaica, concluded his visit by saying he was “encouraged and hugely im-pressed” by the steps taken by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission.

“They have put behind them the troubles that were very public two or three years ago,” said Reedie.

“It’s been a big effort, there are a number of different priorities, they been well supported by government.”

In the aftermath of the doping scandals the Jamaica Anti-doping Commission (JADCO) changed its board of directors, employed a new executive director and implemented a battery of recommendations proposed by WADA.

Reedie was also given updates about anti-doping legislation passed last December and plans for drug testing in 2015.

Carey Brown, executive director of JADCO, revealed this week that those plans include blood testing starting in April.

JADCO have been making improvements in drug testing since a three-man WADA team visited Jamaica in 2013 and carried out a forensic audit following high-profile positive tests by Olympic and world champion-ship medallists Asafa Powell, Sherone Simpson and Veronica Campbell-Brown.

Powell and Simpson, who both tested positive for a banned stimulant, had their bans reduced to six months by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).