Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2015-07-22

National Policy and Strategy on the Health of Young Persons

- During the past few decades, various measures have been taken to improve the health conditions of the youth of Sri Lanka and through certain International Conventions and locally enacted legislation, the necessity of promoting the health conditions of children and youth has been emphasized. At present, nearly 25% of the population is represented by the youth and due to the physical and mental changes that take palace during this age period, some times they tend to get themselves involved in risky tasks. This creates a great impact on the country's economic and health sectors and providing the youth with health services such as adequate counseling services, nutrition programmes and awareness on reproductive health would prevent that by generating a healthy young and adult population in the country. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. (Dr.) Rajitha Senaratne, the Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine, for the implementation of the National Policy and Strategies on the Health of Young Persons, which is directly related to the Maternal and Child Policy, the National Nutrition Policy, the Population and Reproductive Health Policy, National HIV/AIDS Prevention Policy and the Prevention of Non‑Communicable Diseases Policy, was approved by the Cabinet.