Right to Health of Internally Displaced Persons - IDP SriLanka

“Despite its status as a 'less-developed' country, Sri Lanka has
achieved impressive results in health, nutrition and family
planning with levels of public health expenditure lower than
countries with similar incomes whose health outcomes are
considerably worse. Current life expectancy is 73 years,
compared to a regional average of only 61 years, infant
mortality is around 16 per 1,000 births, fertility is near
replacement level, and the population growth rate is less than 1
percent a year and falling. The maternal mortality ratio, at 30
deaths per 100,000 live births, is well below that of countries
with similar levels of per capita income”.
This illustration is true as long as the overall condition of the health in the
whole country is considered. But in district wise and segment wise, the
situation of health condition is different, sometimes very much worse.
This difference can be seen among the rural population, estate
population in the up-country and also among internally displaced
persons (IDPs).
The purpose of this study is to assess the “Right to Heath of the IDPs” and
address the issues raised therewith. In this regard, the health situation in
six Districts of Sri Lanka, namely Batticaloa and Trincomalee in the
Eastern Province, Mannar and Vavuniya in the Northern Province,
Puttalam in North Western Province and Anuradhapura in North Central
Province were identified. This sample was selected for the research
because they are often affected by the conflict and access to relevant
information is comparatively trouble-free in these districts than the other
conflict affected areas. As for Puttalam, though it is somewhat far from
the conflict, many IDPs have been relocated within that district and
selected therefore. The total IDP population in these districts is 224,818
and they represent more than 50 percent of the total Sri Lankan conflict
affected IDP population. However, the limitation of this study is that the
unavailability of the facts and problems faced by displaced persons in the
district like Jaffna, Mulathivu, Kilinochchi and Ampara where the
condition of health and living standards are sometimes more aggregative
than the selected sample and access to information is also comparatively
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