Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Jayaratne, Kapila
• Dissanayake, Vajira
• Karunapema, Palitha

Titel

Covid-19: Threat and Response in Sri Lanka

Ist Teil von

• COVID-19 in South, West, and Southeast Asia, 2023, Vol.1, p.32-42

Auflage

1

Ort / Verlag

United Kingdom: Routledge

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The COVID-19 pandemic has affected 213 countries and territories around the world. Sri Lanka, a low-middle income island nation in the Indian Ocean with a population of 22 million and health indicators on par with the developed world, stands out as a country that has successfully withstood the pandemic by adopting country-specific basic public health measures. Sri Lanka reports a case fatality rate of 0.4% and a case recovery rate of over 90% as of August 1, 2020. Sri Lanka's success so far lies in the reliance on suppression of the pandemic curve by implementing multi-faceted, multi-stakeholder, and society-oriented strategies. A cascade of interventions was executed with close cooperation between health and law enforcement authorities, ensuring strict compliance to public health measures such as social distancing, hand washing, respiratory etiquette, lockdowns, and quarantining closely supported by the highest level political leadership. These measures were complemented by aggressive contact tracing, ramping up of real-time PCR testing, and case management at designated hospitals. A well-planned and targeted media campaign built the trust and ensured compliance of the general public preventing community transmission of the infection. The well-established public health system was fully supported by Police, Armed Forces, and state intelligence services. As the pandemic continues to batter the world, Sri Lanka has set an example to the entire world with its timely and effective response to the pandemic. The country is reaping the benefits of its long-standing investment and reliance on a strong system of public health coupled with the appropriate use of modern technology. The country identified the importance of an effective risk communication modality to ensure the trust of people, credibility, and transparency of information on controlling COVID-19 well ahead of reporting of the first patient in Sri Lanka. A larger chunk of the credit of success of Sri Lanka's COVID-19 control goes to efficiently launched risk communication strategy. Risk communication involves the exchange of real-time information, advice, and opinions between experts and the general public facing threats to their health, economic, or social well-being. The Health Promotion Bureau, as the focal point of risk communication in the country, formulated a risk communication plan. The preparedness and response activities in the risk communication system were continuously updated and optimized according to community feedback through behavior surveillance and public response. All these non-health measures were backed by a strong media campaign that was launched with the objective of educating the general public for better compliance.