The key take home from the workshop were: the Regional Epidemiologist – Dr. P. Hemachandra – stressing the need for Syndromic surveillance; especially, the ability to monitor escalating fever like disease and geographic clusters of increase in common symptoms. Dr. Lakshman Edirisinghe (Deputy Director Planning) emphasized the need for comprehensive patient clinical data for becoming a data driven organization that can optimize the resources opposed to speculative expert opinion. The group also realized that the present day activated passive surveillance system does not catch the epidemic at the root but reacts to merged incidences. The Public Health Inspectors were keen in adopting the Alerting element to reduce the time spent on commuting between their jurisdiction and the Medical Officer of Health departments to receive and deliver papers that communicate their investigations. These were all that the Real-Time Biosurveillance Program (RTBP) addressed in its two and a half year action research. The initial results are promising but requires more work before nationalizing and scaling. The Wayamba Provincial Director of Health Services concluded the sessions stating that the Kurunegala district will scale the RTBP in to all hospitals with the help of the Ministry of Health and Dialog Telekom’s Corporate Social Responsibility program. The RTBP Principal Investigator, Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne (General Secretary Sarvodaya), was delighted to see the community and government working hand-in-hand towards making Sri Lanka a healthier society. He stressed that our focus should be on community development and Sarvodaya will continue to support these initiatives.
LIRNEasia is hiring: Data Scientist
LIRNEasia is looking for a skilled Data Scientist to join our team. The full job description is available here.
Unlocking Data for Artificial Intelligence in Sri Lanka: LIRNEasia hosts exclusive forum in Colombo
LIRNEasia hosted a forum on December 7, 2024, titled “Unlocking Data for Artificial Intelligence in Sri Lanka” at the ITC Ratnadipa Hotel, Colombo. The event brought together AI experts, data scientists, policymakers, and industry leaders to explore practical ways to leverage data and artificial intelligence for informed decision-making and meaningful societal and organizational impact.
LIRNEasia is hiring: Communications Assistant
LIRNEasia is looking for a talented individual to join the team as a Communications Assistant. The full job description is available here.
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