The District Committee met for the first time 25th of March at the District Secretariat Auditorium with the aim of preventing non-communicable diseases and promoting mental health.
83% of the diseases in Sri Lanka are non-communicable diseases. Also, the trend of mental illnesses due to various social and personal reasons is increasing day by day. Accordingly, a large national budget has to be allocated for the treatment and prevention of these diseases. Especially in the Kegalle District, depression is the highest among mental illnesses, which is 35.6%. Non-communicable diseases are also seen to affect children and adults.
Accordingly, at this first committee meeting, the Regional Director of Health Services, Specialist Dr. Nidarshani Periyasamy, pointed out the purpose of this. In particular, she pointed out the importance of not only the health sector but also other government officials at the regional and district levels to prevent these diseases.
Then, the data on mental health and non-communicable diseases in the district were presented by Mental Health Doctor Suranjanika Gunawardena and Non-communicable Diseases Doctor Umanda Dissanayake respectively.
After that, the prevention of non-communicable diseases and mental illnesses in the district was reviewed by Community Medicine Specialist Dilini Rupananda.
Accordingly, through this committee, many things will be implemented, including training selected officers to identify mental illnesses at the rural level, further empowering community awareness, and obtaining health data at the household level.
Additional District Secretary (Lands) Mr.Dilip Nishantha, Divisional Secretaries, officials related to the health sector, and field officers were present at this event.
