IOM and the Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition have organized a
two-day workshop, funded by the US Agency for International
Development (USAID), to improve primary health care services in
northern Sri Lanka.

The event, which brought together some 40 health professionals
from the north and east in Anuradhapura, was entitled "Primary
Curative Care Model for the North".

Participants included health sector professionals from both
national and provincial levels, together with representatives from
the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and
IOM.

The workshop looked at ways of managing a wide spectrum of
issues, including the primary health needs of tens of thousands of
displaced people returning to their places of origin, the
challenges facing health workers in areas of return, and planning
primary level health care for returnees.

Participants also examined the challenge of rebuilding health
infrastructure in the north, training for primary healthcare staff,
and the equipment, drugs and basic lab tests needed at primary
level curative institutions.

Since the end of the conflict between the government and the
LTTE in May 2009, IOM Sri Lanka, in partnership with the Ministry
of Health, has provided emergency health care services to more than
200,000 displaced people in northern Sri Lanka. 

For more information please contact:

Stacey Winston

IOM Colombo

Tel: +94(0)115325300

mobile: +94(0)772366272

E-mail: "mailto:swinston@iom.int">swinston@iom.int

or 

Gaya Nagahawatta 

E-mail: "mailto:gnagahawatta@iom.int">gnagahawatta@iom.int