{"id":24145,"date":"2015-12-17T11:40:12","date_gmt":"2015-12-17T06:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/?p=7185"},"modified":"2015-12-17T11:40:12","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T06:10:12","slug":"gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaps in Sri Lanka’s reproductive health profile – ScienceDev.net"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: ScienceDev.net<\/a><\/p>\n

[COLOMBO] Sri Lanka has made significant progress on maternal and child health but falls short on critical health services for vulnerable women, sexual minorities, the country\u2019s at-risk population and those who live in former conflict areas, say the authors of a country profile on sexual and reproductive health.<\/p>\n

This two-part report on Universal Access to Sexual and Reproductive health produced by Colombo-based Women and Media Collective (WMC) focuses on access to health services and rights issues around sexual and reproductive health. It says that the favourable national maternal mortality statistics hide regional and sectoral differences.<\/p>\n

For instance, in the Northern district of Mullaitivu, in the former conflict zone, the maternal mortality rate is 110 per 1000 live births, while in the more prosperous district of the capital Colombo the rate stands at 8.7 per 1000 live births.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen from former conflict areas find it difficult to access health services which may not be easily available in their district,\u201d notes Kumudini Samuel, a senior programme and research associate at WMC. \u201cWomen in these districts could be supported if community centres hosted regular clinics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the island, single women are often overlooked in government health schemes which adhere to conventional notions of reproductive services offered to traditional, heterosexual families. \u201cMarriage may not be something they want for themselves, but they still want access to sexual and reproductive services,\u201d adds Samuel<\/p>\n

The country profile says that a lack of data on sexual minorities, in particular on Sri Lanka\u2019s transgender population, has left the medical establishment ignorant of the health challenges faced by the group. \u201cThe members of LGBTQ community are hidden because they are criminalised, so data gathering is difficult,\u201d Thiloma Munasinghe, a consultant community physician tells SciDev.Net. Samuel notes that sexual minorities feel unsafe about coming out because they fear losing access to health and legal services.<\/p>\n

Evangeline de Silva, gender and sexuality programme officer at WMC, stresses the need to develop formal data gathering systems to support evidence-based policy and programming. She says such systems need to target areas where there are data gaps related to gender-based violence, sexual health rights of men, sexual dysfunctions, and sexual health rights of those beyond reproductive age.<\/p>\n

Experts say Sri Lanka owes its impressive maternal and child care figures to policies adopted in the 1940s \u2014 healthcare in the island nation is financed primarily by the government, and a nationwide network is in place. However, Munasinghe notes that 30 years of war have impacted the delivery of essential health services and that \u201cpoverty pockets\u201d, where access is poor, remain.<\/p>\n

Gaps also exist in accurate data on HIV and AIDS. Sri Lanka is currently classified as a country with low prevalence with some 2,074 cases identified as of December 2014. \u201cWe can’t say those are the only ones because we still haven’t reached the most at-risk population,\u201d cautions Madhusha Dissanayake, director of HIV\/AIDS and advocacy at the Family Planning Association. According to the report, men who work as migrant workers, men who have sex with men, sex workers and members of the armed and police force fall into the at-risk population.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s healthcare infrastructure will be put to the test as Sri Lanka sets out to eradicate syphilis and prevent new transmissions of HIV from mother to child by 2017. Munasinghe explains that a key part of the government\u2019s strategy would be to package HIV testing with the standard health screening for pregnant women.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough we have a robust health service, we need to be aware of gaps,\u201d says Samuel, adding that lack of access to and availability of public health services in under-serviced areas should be cause for concern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: ScienceDev.net [COLOMBO] Sri Lanka has made significant progress on maternal and child health but falls short on critical health services for vulnerable women, sexual minorities, the country\u2019s at-risk population and those who live in former conflict areas, say the authors of a country profile on sexual and reproductive health. This two-part report on Universal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,102,82,63,16,75,18,140,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gender-sexuality","category-health","category-international","category-local","category-news","category-publications","category-sexuality","category-sexuality-sexuality","category-srhr"],"yoast_head":"\nGaps in Sri Lanka's reproductive health profile - ScienceDev.net - Women & Media Collective<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"si_LK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gaps in Sri Lanka's reproductive health profile - ScienceDev.net - Women & Media Collective\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Source: ScienceDev.net [COLOMBO] Sri Lanka has made significant progress on maternal and child health but falls short on critical health services for vulnerable women, sexual minorities, the country\u2019s at-risk population and those who live in former conflict areas, say the authors of a country profile on sexual and reproductive health. This two-part report on Universal […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Women & Media Collective\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/womenandmediacollective\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-17T06:10:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"wmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@womenandmedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@womenandmedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"wmc\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"wmc\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b9006f49aae93486ba81fc5c513c917\"},\"headline\":\"Gaps in Sri Lanka’s reproductive health profile – ScienceDev.net\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-17T06:10:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":619,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Gender & Sexuality\",\"Health\",\"International\",\"Local\",\"News\",\"Publications\",\"Sexuality\",\"Sexuality\",\"SRHR\"],\"inLanguage\":\"si\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/\",\"name\":\"Gaps in Sri Lanka's reproductive health profile - ScienceDev.net - Women & Media Collective\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-17T06:10:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"si\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"si\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gaps in Sri Lanka’s reproductive health profile – ScienceDev.net\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Women & Media Collective\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"si\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Women & Media Collective\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"si\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/logo-01.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/logo-01.svg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Women & Media Collective\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/womenandmediacollective\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/womenandmedia\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/wmc_srilanka\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/women-and-media-collective\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b9006f49aae93486ba81fc5c513c917\",\"name\":\"wmc\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"si\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"wmc\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/womenandmedia.org\\\/si\\\/author\\\/wmc\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gaps in Sri Lanka's reproductive health profile - ScienceDev.net - Women & Media Collective","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/","og_locale":"si_LK","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gaps in Sri Lanka's reproductive health profile - ScienceDev.net - Women & Media Collective","og_description":"Source: ScienceDev.net [COLOMBO] Sri Lanka has made significant progress on maternal and child health but falls short on critical health services for vulnerable women, sexual minorities, the country\u2019s at-risk population and those who live in former conflict areas, say the authors of a country profile on sexual and reproductive health. This two-part report on Universal […]","og_url":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/","og_site_name":"Women & Media Collective","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/womenandmediacollective","article_published_time":"2015-12-17T06:10:12+00:00","author":"wmc","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@womenandmedia","twitter_site":"@womenandmedia","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"wmc","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/"},"author":{"name":"wmc","@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/#\/schema\/person\/4b9006f49aae93486ba81fc5c513c917"},"headline":"Gaps in Sri Lanka’s reproductive health profile – ScienceDev.net","datePublished":"2015-12-17T06:10:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/"},"wordCount":619,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Gender & Sexuality","Health","International","Local","News","Publications","Sexuality","Sexuality","SRHR"],"inLanguage":"si"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/","url":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/","name":"Gaps in Sri Lanka's reproductive health profile - ScienceDev.net - Women & Media Collective","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2015-12-17T06:10:12+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"si","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"si","@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/gaps-in-sri-lankas-reproductive-health-profile\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gaps in Sri Lanka’s reproductive health profile – ScienceDev.net"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/","name":"Women & Media Collective","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"si"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/#organization","name":"Women & Media Collective","url":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"si","@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/logo-01.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/logo-01.svg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Women & Media Collective"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/womenandmediacollective","https:\/\/x.com\/womenandmedia","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wmc_srilanka\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/women-and-media-collective\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/#\/schema\/person\/4b9006f49aae93486ba81fc5c513c917","name":"wmc","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"si","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"wmc"},"url":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/author\/wmc\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/si\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}