Health and Mass Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa attended the Commonwealth Health Coordination Forum in Geneva on the sidelines of the 79th World Health Assembly, the Ministry of Health said.
The forum, held under the theme “Shaping the future of cancer across the Commonwealth,” brought together health ministers and senior officials from Commonwealth countries to develop a joint cancer control plan based on the recommendations of the Lancet Oncology Commonwealth report. It was organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat and chaired by former Guyanese Health Minister H.E. Leslie Ramsammy.
Jayatissa represented Sri Lanka both as Minister of Health and Mass Media and in his capacity as Chair of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia, a position that gives Colombo a coordinating role across one of the most populous WHO regions. He was joined in Geneva by Secretary to the Ministry of Health Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Deputy Director General Dr. S. Sridharan, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva Sumith Dassanayake, and a wider team of senior officials.
The 79th World Health Assembly, the WHO’s annual decision-making forum, runs through May 23 at the organisation’s Geneva headquarters. Cancer control has emerged as a priority for several Commonwealth members confronting rising cancer burdens against limited oncology infrastructure — a profile that fits Sri Lanka, where non-communicable diseases now account for more than four in five deaths and a recent Kalutara briefing put the headline NCD burden at roughly one in five adults.
