A National Symposium on Current Research Activities on dengue - conducted by the Faculty of Medicine on 13th of November, 2015.
During the past one and a half decades, par excellence in research on dengue in Sri Lanka was evident at the Department of Parasitology and Molecular Medicine Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. Several valuable research grants on dengue have been awarded to the faculty by national and international funding agencies. One recent major achievement is the receipt of funds for a highly competitive Target Oriented Integrated Dengue Mega Vector Control Project from the National Research Council (NRC), Sri Lanka, to establish novel and innovative strategies for dengue vector control including new product development. Symposium on Current Research Activities on Dengue conducted by the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya together with the launching of the dengue mega project web-site took place at the National Blood Bank Auditorium on the 13 th of November 2015. Dr. Kostas Bourtzis of the Joint FAO/IAEA Insect Pest Control Laboratory was the keynote speaker while several presentations were made by guest lecturers and post- graduate students working under the dengue mega project. Prof. Janaka de Silva, the Chairman of the National Research Council and the director Post Graduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM), the Chief Guest for this occasion launched the web-site together with Prof. W.Abeyewickreme, Principle Investigator of the Dengue Mega Project. Mrs. Manisha Rajapaksa, Executive Director, National Research Council and several Board Members of the NRC participated the occasion. Partners of the dengue mega project, from the Dengue Control Unit, Anti Malaria Campaign, Western Province Health Department, Industrial Technology Institute, Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology, University of Colombo, National Institute for Fundamental Studies represented the event. Research Council of University of Kelaniya,NRC and the IAEA facilitated this symposium. It is noteworthy to mention that the symposium date fell within the week which the Government had declared as the "dengue control week" and now the Government has announced dengue control as one of the priority areas of the health budget for 2016.
