BACKGROUND Telephone survey (TS) has been a popular tool for conducting health surveys, particularly in developed countries. However, the feasibility, and reliability of TS are not adequately explored in Sri Lanka. The main aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of telephone-based survey in estimating the prevalence of common non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Sri Lanka. METHODS We...

Dr. Nadira Karunaweera: I am pleased to say that our research program on leishmaniasis has had a major impact on health policy decisions on several fronts during the past decade or so that has helped to lay the foundation and facilitated the process for better management and control of this disease in Sri Lanka. First, the published information on clinical and epidemiological aspects of leishma...

This exploratory study examines the relations between corporate social and environmental reporting (CS&ER) i and the socially responsible investment (SRI) ii sector. The evidence presented, based upon the informed opinions of 14 experts within the SRI field, suggests that the field of CS&ER is on the verge of a major change towards a substantial and sustained improvement in quality and quantity...

In South Asia, Sri Lanka is considered to be a country with a low prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, most of the behaviours that facilitate the spread of HIV exist within the country. A large sexually active and potentially susceptible population aged between 15 and 49 years accounts for almost 55 per cent of the total Sri Lankan population of 18.7 million. The continuin...

Motorcycles are popular in Asian countries including Sri Lanka and it is becoming an important part of transportation in the country. Despite its popularity, little research has been conducted to study the impact of motorcycles on road safety in Sri Lanka. The objective of this study was to investigate the risk factors of crashes involving motorcycles. Data was obtained from Police crash record...

Sri Lanka provides an ideal opportunity for the study of the effect of geology on human health. The vast majority of the people of Sri Lanka still live in rural areas within areas termed geochemical provinces. Very broadly, one could say that a geochemical province has characteristic chemical composition in soil, water stream sediments and rocks, enabling their delineation from others. The chem...

In order to evaluate the performance of socially responsible investment (SRI) funds, we propose some models which use data envelopment analysis and can be computed in all phases of the business cycle. These models focus on the most crucial elements of an investment in mutual funds. In the literature both constant and variable returns to scale DEA models have been used to evaluate the performanc...

WE READ WITH INTEREST THE REPORT “LOCAL endemism within the Western Ghats–Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot” by F. Bossuyt et al. (15 Oct. 2004, p. 479), which documents patterns of diversification in selected vertebrate and invertebrate lineages from Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats region of western India. Although these two areas have long been united as a single biogeographic unit (1), and more...

Although there is $2 trillion in portfolios using socially responsible investing (SRI) criteria, it remains unclear how to measure “social responsibility.” We explore competing theoretical perspectives that explain the level of convergent and predictive validity across SRI ratings produced by competing social raters. While some prior literature predicts low convergent validity due to desire for...

1 2 A leading method of committing suicide in Sri Lanka is ingestion of pesticides, which are readily available in rural farming households. Self poisoning kills more people in rural Sri Lanka than ischemic heart disease and tropical diseases combined. 3 Although acute pesticide poisoning occurs at alarmingly high rates in Sri Lanka, it is also a major problem throughout the developing world. T...