Decline in Sri Lanka’s perinatal deaths

November 15, 2024

political Current Affairs

Decline in Sri Lanka’s perinatal deaths - FHB report

May 23, 2019

A Health Ministry report has shown that stillbirths and neonatal deaths have dwindled in Sri Lanka, recently, Family Health Bureau (FHB) Consultant Physician Dr. Kapila Jayaratne said. The FHB's Maternal and Child Morbidity, Mortality Surveillance Unit, in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), has prepared the report by studying stillbirth and neonatal death statistics in the country between 2014 and 2017, Dr. Jayaratne said.

He said that the perinatal mortality rate in the country had dropped to 6.8 percent by 2017. These rates were on par with that of many developed countries as well, he added. Dr. Jayaratne said that Sri Lanka was the only country in the region to have a perinatal death surveillance system.
He said the system had evolved over time, with the addition of new mechanisms to help monitor perinatal deaths, as well as prevent them in the future. Copies of the report were also handed over to Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne and Health Ministry Secretary Wasantha Perera.