Publications by authors named "I J Gunaratna"
The impact of the National Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis on filariasis morbidity in Sri Lanka: Comparison of current status with retrospective data following the elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis
August 2024
Article Synopsis
- Sri Lanka's National Programme for Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis (NPELF) was launched in 2002, yielding significant success with five years of mass drug administration leading to the WHO’s validation of elimination of the disease as a public health problem by 2016.
- A study analyzing data from 2006 to 2022 revealed that in 2022 there were 566 new lymphoedema cases, with most patients in early stages of the disease, particularly in the Western Province.
- The overall rates of lymphoedema and hospital admissions for related conditions demonstrated a consistent decline, with a notable yearly reduction of 7.6% from 2007 to 2022, underscoring the
Lymphatic filariases and soil-transmitted helminthiases in Sri Lanka: the challenge of eliminating residual pockets of transmission.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
October 2023
Sri Lanka has successfully met the challenge of controlling both lymphatic filariasis (LF) and soil-transmitted helminthiases (STH) as public health problems. The primary public health strategy for combatting both conditions has been preventive chemotherapy. The national programme for the elimination of LF implemented five annual rounds of mass chemotherapy in the endemic districts from 2002 to 2006 using a combination of diethylcarbamazine and albendazole.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Sri Lanka was acknowledged to have eliminated lymphatic filariasis (LF) as a public health problem in 2016, largely due to its success in Mass Drug Administration (MDA) to interrupt disease transmission. Analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of the national Morbidity Management and Disability Prevention (MMDP) program, the other pillar of the LF control program, was carried out with the objective of evaluating it and providing recommendations to optimize the use of available resources.
Methodology: A situation analysis of the MMDP activities provided by the state health sector was carried out using published records, in-depth interviews with key informants of the Anti Filariasis Campaign, site-visits to filariasis clinics with informal discussions with clinic workforce and personal communications to identify strengths and weaknesses; and opportunities to overcome weaknesses and perceived threats to the program were explored.
Background: Problem behaviours (PBs) are a common cause for clinician contact in people with disorders of intellectual development and may be a common cause for the prescription of psychotropic medication. We aimed to use a large, multinational sample to define the prevalence of PBs, the associations with psychotropic medication use, and to assess for any potential 'diagnostic overshadowing' by the label of PBs in a population of people with disorders of intellectual development.
Method: A multinational, multi-setting, cross-sectional service evaluation and baseline audit was completed.