G.D. Dayaratne of the Health Economics Policy Unit of IPS writes a special feature article marking World Health Day (7th April). He argues that it is exceedingly important that the public dismisses the false notion that PPPs will lead to the privatization of the public health care delivery system. Public health authorities have a responsibility to reap the benefits from PPP arrangements, in order to reduce cost, share resources, provide quality assurance, and increase the efficiency of the healthcare delivery system without compromising on equity and fairness. Hence, institutional changes may be required in both the public and private sectors, to better fulfill their social mandate and provide quality health services to the people of the country.

In this special feature article marking World Consumer Rights Day (15th March), RaveenEkanayake (Research Assistant – IPS) writes that with the growing incidence of food safety risks globally, Sri Lanka mustintroduce smarter and coherent regulation for imported food products to protect consumers’ health and safety.   Introduction   Increased international trade in food has resulted [...]

An e-book of the ‘Sri Lanka: State of the Economy 2012’ containing summary information and visuals of the 7 key chapters is now available for free download. This e-book also contains links to a video presentation of the main highlights of the report.

The UNDP recently launched the National Human Development Report 2012 for Sri Lanka recently, and in this video the Lead Author of the report, IPS Research Fellow Dr. Nisha Arunatilake talks about the main issues discussed in it.   IPS undertook extensive research and analysis for the preparation of this report, only the 2nd such [...]

Despite impressive achievements in healthcare in Sri Lanka over the last decades, the emerging trend of rising out of pocket expenditure by individuals needs attention. OOP expenditure on health hits particularly hard on the poor, whose ailments will either remain untreated or end up forcing them and their families into deeper poverty. To mitigate the economic and health impact on household, the most pressing need is to maintain an uninterrupted flow of life-saving essential drugs in government health facilities.