Engaging with Family Health Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine in Sri Lanka (Spring 2019)

Moyandi Tamara Udugama

In Spring 2019, I received the Ambassador Paul Frazer Travel Award for Global Health for my field work in Sri Lanka. I am interested in Global Health because I believe it is the perfect field of study that can bridge the gap in knowledge and technological deficit in the health care that exist between high- and low-income countries.

My work was at the Family Health Bureau (FHB) of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine in Sri Lanka. The FHB is the main public health organization in Sri Lanka responsible for providing Maternal and Child Health care services. I was involved in monitoring and evaluation of the routine RMNCAYH programs in Sri Lanka in close assistance to the Consultant Community Physician. (RMNCAYH: Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child, Adolescent and Youth Health). I assisted in organizing Maternal and child health reviews held in nine districts and joined in discussion with medical officers of health about issued of data reporting, data quality and emerging health trends in each district. Key issues identified at each review were reported to the respective units of the FHB and later used to prepare the FHB’s annual report.

There are five major points that I will take from this experience:

1. My traveling was postponed due to the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka, I was only able to complete 9 out of the 25 districts reviews that I had planned to attend. I was initially shocked and disappointed that such an unfortunate event happened just as I arrived in Sri Lanka. But later I realized that the essence of working in global health is the resilience you gain from overcoming unexpected situations. I also made use of my time to volunteer with relief projects in the country which provided assistance to victims of the bombings.

2. Even with limited resources, Sri Lanka has developed their own monitoring and evaluation software called the electronic Reproductive Health Information Management System (eRHMIS). It is an online system available all across the country and used by public health staff to gather data on public health activities at the community level. It was quite impressive to see how advanced some of the health care services were even in a low-income country like Sri Lanka.

3. I was able to see how the country has rebuilt after a 30-year civil war that ended in 2009. Today, even the districts that were heavily affected by the war provide qualified health care services.

4. I learned how governmental organizations such as the Ministry of Health accomplish effective community engagement and health promotion. The specialized services provided by public health midwifes and public health inspectors were the most impressive. I was also able to understand the important role of the government in delivery of community health services and the efforts they make to maintain the WHO standards for maternal and child health (MCH).

5. Even though I grew up in Sri Lanka for the first 19 years of my life I never had the opportunity to work in the health sector, which had been my childhood ambition. This project allowed me to make that dream come true. In addition, by comparing the health care systems of Canada and Sri Lanka I learned that one is not greater than the other even though the countries are in separate income gradients. Rather, both High income and Low-income countries have things they can learn from each other and I believe that should be the future of global health.

This field work has added to my passion to work in Global Health. I learned about the importance of the routine surveillance and preventative interventions and the importance of MCH services in strengthening the health of the entire population. Being exposed to the terror that spread after the Easter Sunday bombings that happened in the city  I lived in was an eye-opening experience. I learned that working in global health is never a smooth trajectory.

My future career plans are to work at an organization that provide MCH services for displaced populations in conflict regions. The field work in Sri Lanka really provided me with knowledge in proper MCH services and was a learning experience on resilience when things don’t always go the way you want them to be.

About the author

Moyandi Tamara Udugama, is a second year Master of Science in Public Health student and a Varsity Field Hockey Athlete at McGill University. She is passionate about Global Health especially in the field of humanitarian health which provide healthcare services to displaced populations.