WHO Sri Lanka

Strong emergency response starts before a crisis strikes, with resilient systems that enable medical teams to respond effectively 🚨🏥

Joining the 1st Seminar on Strengthening the Disaster Medical Response System in Sri Lanka, co-organized by the Disaster Preparedness and Response Division (DPRD), Ministry of Health, and JICA (@jica_direct), 🗣️ Dr Momoe Takeuchi, Team Lead - Health Systems, WHO Sri Lanka, drew focus to the key pillars of a sustainable, nationally owned Emergency Medical Team (EMT) system:
✅ Strong governance
👥 Trained multidisciplinary personnel
📃 Operational standards
🚛 Reliable logistics
ℹ️ Information management
🏥 Hospital preparedness
📋 Regular exercises

Healthy habits built early can help prevent oral disease for life 🦷

With WHO support, the Family Health Bureau, Ministry of Health and Mass Media, recently equipped frontline school health teams 👩🏻‍🏫 with practical skills to deliver quality and safe preventive oral health interventions, including:
✅ Fissure sealant application
🥗 Diet counselling
🪥 Effective toothbrushing

Embedding these interventions within Sri Lanka’s school health programme 🏫 brings preventive oral health care closer to children and adolescents, supporting better oral health throughout the life course👏🏽

#OralHealth #HealthforAll #SriLanka

[1/2] Health is shaped in clinics and hospitals, but also in homes, communities and decisions made across sectors 💙

At the halfway point of the PHC Leadership Course, Day 3️⃣ looked beyond service delivery to two essential components of PHC: multisectoral action and empowered people and communities 👏🏽

[1/2]📍 In Mutwal and Mattakkuliya, looking closer at where mosquitoes can breed 🦟

Today, WHO joined the National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) and Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) health teams inspecting potential mosquito breeding sites as part of this week’s special mosquito control programme.

🔎 From discarded items collecting rainwater to leaking sinks, the field inspections identified many small pockets of water creating conditions for mosquito breeding ‼️

Staying alert to dengue doesn’t stop at knowing the symptoms 👉🏼

Alongside ongoing national dengue prevention efforts, protecting yourself from mosquito bites and eliminating breeding sites are essential to reducing dengue transmission 🚫

🦟 Protect yourself from mosquito bites
💧 Empty and clean water holding/storage containers regularly
🏡 Keep your home and surroundings free of mosquito breeding sites
👕 Cover exposed skin where possible

Know the signs. Reduce your risk. Stay alert to dengue‼️

#Dengue #DenguePrevention #StaySafe #SriLanka