Prevalence of depression and its associated factors among patients attending primary care settings in the post-conflict Northern Province in Sri Lanka: a cross-sectional study.

Background: In Sri Lanka, civilians in the Northern Province were affected by a long-term armed conflict that ended in 2009. This study aims to describe the prevalence of depression and its associated factors among adult patients attending primary care settings in the Northern Province in Sri Lanka.

Methods: We report data from a cross-sectional patient morbidity registry established in 16 primary care facilities (12 Divisional Hospitals and 4 Primary Medical Care Units) in four districts of the Northern Province.

High attack rate for malaria through irregular migration routes to a country on verge of elimination.

Irregular migration in the form of human smuggling and human trafficking is recognized as a global public health issue. Thirty-two cases of Plasmodium falciparum were detected in 534 irregular migrants returning to Sri Lanka via failed human smuggling routes from West Africa in 2012, contributing to the largest burden of imported cases in Sri Lanka as it entered elimination phase. Beyond the criminality and human rights abuse, irregular migration plays an important, but often forgotten, pathway for malaria re-introduction.

Irregular Migration as a Potential Source of Malaria Reintroduction in Sri Lanka and Use of Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests at Point-of-Entry Screening.

Background. We describe an irregular migrant who returned to Sri Lanka after a failed people smuggling operation from West Africa. Results.