Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO), together with the Disaster Preparedness and Response Division of the Ministry of Health, initiated Phase 1 of Sri Lanka’s five‑year national plan (2026–2030) on “Strengthening Sri Lanka’s Emergency Health Workforce for Chemical and Biological Hazards.”
This first phase focuses on systematically mapping the existing health workforce and national capacities for chemical emergency preparedness across both preventive and curative health services. The exercise includes reviewing training, skills, and institutional capacities, aligned with the eight core functions of the Incident Management System (IMS), to ensure a coordinated and effective response framework.
Building on this mapping, a facility‑wide survey will be conducted to identify critical gaps in preparedness, including workforce coverage, skills, and readiness at different levels of the health system. Findings from this phase will guide targeted capacity‑building actions under subsequent stages of the national plan.
This milestone reaffirms WHO’s commitment to strengthening and institutionalizing specialized chemical emergency response skills within Sri Lanka’s health sector, while enhancing national coordination and readiness within broader chemical emergency preparedness mechanisms. By investing early in evidence‑based workforce planning, Sri Lanka is taking an important step toward a safer, more resilient health system capable of responding to complex chemical and biological threats.
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