📈 Flood Recovery & Sri Lanka’s Strategic Health Agenda

Sri Lanka is reframing its health strategy following recent floods, shifting focus from emergency response to addressing long-term systemic challenges and individual responsibility. • The NCD Burden: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes and cardiovascular disease now account for approximately 83% of all annual deaths, driven largely by lifestyle factors and an ageing population. • Key Policy Themes: • Climate Resilience: Integrating health systems to withstand recurring shocks like floods and heatwaves. • Chronic Care: Leveraging modern pharmaceuticals to manage hypertension and heart disease, essential for maintaining workforce productivity. • Mental Health: Prioritizing well-being as a core component of economic productivity and social cohesion. • Economic Context: While life expectancy remains higher than regional peers, the transition to a chronic care model requires significant private sector innovation and public trust in medical science and pharmaceuticals. • Individual Responsibility: Data from the National STEPS Survey indicates that national health outcomes are heavily dependent on modifiable behaviors, emphasizing that health cannot be "outsourced" to the state alone.