The Ministry of Health and Mass Media has launched a series of training programmes to equip field health workers with psychological intervention techniques to prevent tobacco use and support users in quitting, Director of the Non-Communicable Diseases Unit Dr Sreeni Alahapperuma said.
The initiative focuses on the “Brief Intervention” approach, which enables health staff to encourage behavioural change through short counselling sessions. Dr Alahapperuma said the method is designed to raise awareness of the harms of tobacco use within a few minutes and motivate individuals to reduce or quit the habit.
The first workshop is scheduled for June 15 at the auditorium of the Colombo District Director of Health Services Office, with Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Prabath Wickrama as the main resource person. Medical Officers of Health, Health Education Officers, Public Health Inspectors and Public Health Midwives are among the field staff expected to attend.
A second workshop will follow on June 16 at the Piliyandala Medical Officer of Health Office auditorium.
The training is being organised jointly by the NCD Unit of the Ministry of Health and Mass Media, the College of Psychiatrists of Sri Lanka, the Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) and the Colombo District DDHS Office.
The drive comes against the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s wider non-communicable disease burden, with the Institute of Policy Studies recently estimating tobacco-attributable deaths at around 12,300 a year in the country, and the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol pushing a longer-term “tobacco-free Generation Alpha” campaign.
