World Health Day 2020: Support health workers on the frontline

People’s health is vital for the growth of a nation. It makes an important contribution to the economic progress and the productivity of people. To make the nation’s population healthy, the contribution of Health officials is of utmost importance. Even during this COVID-19 pandemic, they are the frontliners risking their lives daily to protect others. This World Health Day,  people in Sri Lanka come together to salute all those who are serving in the health sector – from doctors to nurses to the cleaning staff in health facilities for their unwavering service.  

Children are the backbone of a nation. The first thousand days of a child’s life is vital. The right nutrition, immunisation and care (during the first 1000 day window) play a pivotal role in deciding if the child’s survival and contributes towards his or her ability to grow, learn and rise out of poverty.  The role of midwives for maternal and childcare is crucial and aids to determine the health of a child.

We see that the midwives of our country are playing a great role even during this pandemic by visiting the lactating and pregnant mothers in need. Therefore as a child-centric organization, we express our heartfelt gratitude for all the midwives of our the country.

The World Health Day 2020 also enables us to reflect on how far country leaders, policies and systems have strengthened their role assuring their work satisfaction, enabling the environment for them to perform well at the grassroots level.

While appreciating their good work, it is the time for the leaders of our country to ascertain and address the following issues that the vulnerable people often face:

- shortage of midwives in respective divisions;

- lack of clinic centers for remote areas and;

- the scarcity of resources in the clinic centres according to the government standard.

Whilst wishing our dedicated leaders and health frontliners the best of luck, we believe you will be able to eradicate COVID 19 with your unwavering and optimize our health system.