The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a resolution authorising the University of Jaffna to enter a four-year collaboration agreement with the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom and 11 other foreign institutions, under the Global Health Research Group Project on Violence against Women and Children, Newswire reported on Wednesday.
The proposal was presented by Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya in her capacity as Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education. The project is backed by Rs. 173.92 million in funding from the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Newswire said.
The four-year programme aims to strengthen Sri Lanka’s health-system responses to violence against women and children. It will integrate “sustainable community engagement” and Survivor Panels into the local health system, assess health-related issues linked to gender-based and child violence, evaluate economic and social impacts, and identify effective prevention strategies, according to the Cabinet paper.
The collaboration will also support knowledge-sharing and capacity development across partner institutions — positioning the University of Jaffna as a named Sri Lankan partner in a multi-university global health consortium.
The approval lands during a broader spell of Cabinet activity on multilateral research and policy frameworks under Dr. Amarasuriya’s education portfolio, and amid international engagements that have repeatedly seen Sri Lankan universities and ministries linked into UK research and care-economy programmes — including the Prime Minister’s own Institute of Development Studies / Sussex care-economy session.
Newswire said the project is expected to make a meaningful contribution to national efforts to address violence against women and children.
Source: Newswire.
