Dr. Palitha Abeykoon, Honary Advisor, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka was awarded the Professor Kazue K. McLaren Leadership Achievement Award on 8th December 2020 durin the Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health Conference 2020 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Citation for Dr Palitha Abeykoon
Dr. Palitha Abeykoon, a Sri Lankan, received his Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and had post graduate education in Medical Education and in Education Technology from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
He was a Takemi Fellow of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston receiving the MPH, and at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard on health policy. He also completed a Diploma in population at the International School of Labour Studies of the ILO and the University of Geneva. Later he spent a year studying advances in medical education in U.K. and Europe on a WHO Fellowship.
He worked 12 years as an academic in the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Peradeniya, teaching public health and paediatrics and as the Director of the Department of Medical Education which was the W.H.O. South East Asia Regional Centre for Medical Education.
He was invited by the World Health Organization in 1982 as the Health Manpower Advisor to Nepal and later to Indonesia. He led the development of the health personnel education systems in these countries, including the first ever School of Medicine (IOM) in Nepal and the Consortium of Health Sciences and a National Board of Medical Examinations in Indonesia. He also helped to set up five new Schools of Public Health in the country.
Later as the WHO Regional Advisor in Human Resources for Health for South East Asia in the WHO Regional Office in New Delhi he, inter alia, set up the Reorientation of Medical Education programme in the SEA region, as a follow up of the Alma Ata PHC Conference.
Later he was the Director of Health Systems and led the WHO Regional Programs in PHC, human resources development, immunization and research. During this period he organized the landmark Regional Public Health Conference that resulted in the now historic CALCUTTA Declaration on Public Health for South East Asia.
Concurrently he has served as the WHO Representative to India.
In relation to the APACPH, from the mid1980s onwards Dr. Abeykoon was the WHO Representative in the fledgling APACPH founded during the tenure of Dean Michael from Hawaii and Prof Debhanom Muangman from Mahidol University Bangkok. In close association with fellow Sri Lankan Prof Walter Patrick from the University of Hawaii, he facilitated the growth and development of the APACPH into the active and widely representative organization to strengthen public health from South East Asia.
Since 2003 he has been working as an Advisor and Consultant in Health Systems and public health policy with the Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka, and with WHO, World Bank, UNFPA in a number of the countries in the South East Asia Region. He was team leader evaluating the polio programs in Thailand, Myanmar and in India, developed the Public Health Education Strategy for Myanmar, established the first Public Health University in the country under the WHO. He developed the blueprint for the Bhutan Institute of Medicine and developed their Bachelor’s degree programme in public health.
Since 2019 he has been supporting WHO and the Ministry of Health of India in a review of the public health education institutions to develop a Network of Centres of Excellence in public health for Universal Health Coverage programs.
Dr. Abeykoon has had numerous responsibilities in Sri Lanka. He chaired theNational Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol, the World Bank supported Primary Health Care Development Project of the Ministry of Health, is a Member of National Medicines Authority of Sri Lanka, and an Hon. Advisor to the Ministry of Health. He was President, Sri Lanka Medical Association and the AIDS Foundation of Sri Lanka, is the Vice Chair, Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) of the Global Fund, and is a Member of the National Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases.
Dr. Abeykoon has received Fellowships from the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka, the College of Medical Educationists, the College of General Practitioners and the College of Medical Administrators of Sri Lanka.
He was awarded the Dr. Fred Katz Award of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medical Education for outstanding services in Medical education in developing countries.
Was Awarded the Lifetime Award for contribution to Public Health by the South East Asia Public Health Education Network (SEAPHEN).
At the Regional and Global levels he currently serves as a Member of the Advisory Committee of the WHO Global Learning Academy, Member of the Research Advisory Committee of the Regional Director, serves on the WHO International Health Regulations Panel, and as a Member of the Academic Committee of the Public Health Foundation of India. He was a Member of the World Federation of Medical Education Task Force to determine international standards in medical education and is a Founder Member and Advisor to the South East Asia Public Health Institutions Network (SEAPHEN).
He has numerous publications, including journal articles and chapters in books in public health and medical education, more recently as co- editor of the second volume of the History of Medicine in Sri Lanka.