National Dengue Symposium – 2019
Sri Lanka encounters a significant number of dengue cases in each year since a couple of decades, and there are times when the number of cases raises up to the level where the epidemics are declared 2009-2010, and 2017-2018. Though there are several actors including Sri Lanka Red Cross Society, the government of Sri Lanka and many other local and international actors invest in prevention or dengue in Sri Lanka, the prevalence remains unchanged in many places in the island nation, questioning the effectiveness of the standing alone, uncoordinated and fragmented interventions.
Therefore, the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society along with the Dengue Control Unit of the ministry of health of Sri Lanka plans to form a national level consortium that would also include not only the conventional health and humanitarian actors but also, unconventional potential partners such as academia, national public and private school system, corporate sector, hotel and tourism industry etc., in order to enhance the strength of the national level response to dengue.
Thus, by organizing the symposium, a series of events are lined up in order to raise the awareness of the participants on;
- importance of holistic approach in responding dengue as a national priority,
- advantages of coordinated response,
- positive and sustaining changes that unconventional stakeholder may bring,
- behavioral change as a straggly in tackling dengue, etc., aiming at gathering strengths of all potential stakeholders for a coordinated, and effective series of interventions to prevent and respond to Dengue, in future.
The consortium is envisioned as a multi-sectoral, Multi-agency coalition with Multi-year funding raised within the country. At the end of the symposium, the call for interest for partnership- technical, implementation and financial support, among the participants.
Furthermore, once established, consortium will continue to receive concept papers of community-based projects, academic researches, etc. on Dengue from its partners, and the resources within the consortium are thought to be mobilized for the implementation of the projects.
Project monitoring will be carried out by any nominated consortium member- based on technical expertise, and the leaning will be capitalized. The symposium event will also be organized annually, and the theme of each year will be decided by the consortium members.
If any corporate sector partners, Institutions or any other interest parties willing to join hands with the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society, please drop an email to; [email protected]
National Dengue Symposium 2018
The first ever National Dengue Symposium was conducted jointly with the National Dengue Control Unit in 2018, Colombo. The main objective of this symposium was to reduce the duplication of the activities among different stakeholders, to reduce the morbidity and mortality of the communities due to Dengue and to enhance the relationship between various stakeholders when working towards a Dengue Free Sri Lanka.
The panel discussion was held with the participation of by various stakeholders regarding different aspects of Dengue.
The SLRCS delivered the presentation on Contribution towards Dengue Eradication in Sri Lanka. Topics such as sociological aspect of risk communication & behavioural change, community involvement for Dengue Prevention, challenges & way forward, Dengue Eradication by Security Forces & Police (Civil Military Cooperation) was also discussed during the symposium.
The final event was the Technical discussion with professionals at the head table, which included Q&A sessions about future plans to eliminate Dengue from Sri Lanka.
Key Highlights of the Dengue Symposium 2018
Audience of the National Dengue Symposium Head table at the National Dengue Symposium Lighting the oil lamp of the National Dengue Symposium Key note speech by Dr Hasitha Tissera – Director, National Dengue Control Unit
Presentation by Ms Ovini Bandaranayake Presentation by Dr Nilu Himali Mendis – Dr V.P Gunasekara – Dr Savin Semage
– Coordinator, Dengue Operations – SLRCS Sri Lanka Air Force Regional Director of Health Service – Kegalle Consultant Community Physician – Sri Lanka Army
Prize giving – the winners of All Island Dengue Poster Competition – 2018
Prize giving – the winners of Inter District Dengue Free Model School – 2018
The highlight of the Dengue Symposium was the drama performed by the Kurunegala Maliyadeva Girls School which spread fun and enjoyment among the audience
Facilitating the Technical Discussion – Dr Lahiru Kodituwakku Technical discussion panel
Medical Officer, National Dengue Control Unit