In her introduction to Perspectives (which I wrote for the United Nations Population Fund to mark 50 years of their work in Sri Lanka) Ritsu Nacken the County Representative for UNFPA Sri Lanka explains what the publication sets out to do: “This year, 2019, marks two important milestones in the field of reproductive health globally: 50 years … Continue reading
Vraie Balthazar remembers thinking: “This can’t be normal.” Her periods had taken on a kind of life of their own. She would bleed not just three or four days, but seven days. Her sanitary napkins needed to be changed every two hours. She would layer them together, two-pads deep, to make a kind of adult … Continue reading
COLOMBO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Lawyers and activists representing a group of Sri Lankan women who were subjected to female genital cutting as children will meet the justice minister on Wednesday to urge a ban on the ritual. The minister called for a meeting after the women spoke out against the tradition which is practiced … Continue reading
COLOMBO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When her daughter turned seven, and it was time for the “khatna” – a female genital mutilation (FGM) ritual – a close friend advised Naqiyah to try the butter knife method. A trusted doctor in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo would simply run a blunt knife against little Tanzeem’s vagina, … Continue reading
Edward de Alwis was admitted as a 14-year-old to the Hendala Leprosy Hospital. He has been a patient there for some 75 years. [Smriti Daniel/ Al Jazeera] Hendala, Sri Lanka – Edward de Alwis was born in 1928, the youngest of nine siblings. He was only 14-years old when a Public Health Inspector on a … Continue reading
Colombo, Sri Lanka – Ariyaseeli Gunaweera, known as Ari to all, is a supervising public health midwife in Sri Lanka. She is, as a result, a person of some importance. Ajith Kumarasiri certainly thinks so – when Ari sends him on an errand, he hurries to get it done, returning with a large 10cc syringe … Continue reading
C-H-A-M-M-I. Chandima Rajapatirana’s first word, painstakingly spelled out, letter by letter, was a revelation. He had had no means of communicating in the 17 years that led up to this moment. Few suspected he had anything worth saying. Raised by his Sri Lankan parents in the US, he was first diagnosed with autism at the … Continue reading
To Ajit P. Yoganathan a malfunctioning heart is also an engineering problem. To a select group of surgeons, he is the man they visit before they enter the operating theatre. They are looking to him to understand what to expect and to help them make the smartest possible choice. Currently the Regents’ Professor in the … Continue reading
There are three naked children in the picture, but only one of them is malnourished. There’s nothing obvious to give it away – the boys look fairly healthy, the first even boasts a little paunch. When Nkosinathi Mbuya, senior nutrition specialist at the Human Development Unit of The World Bank, reveals that despite his round … Continue reading
Where do Dr. David Young’s loyalties lie? Without missing a beat, the Sri Lankan cricket team’s honorary surgeon says, “always with individual athletes.” Dr. Young is a familiar face here – he’s been travelling to the island, sometimes several times a year, for 17 years now. An orthopaedic surgeon, his patients have included the likes … Continue reading
Smriti Daniel 