Department of Census and Statistics unveils national survey on self-reported health in SL

The Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) officially launched the survey report ‘National Survey on Self-reported Health in Sri Lanka 2014’ at a ceremony held on 5 July in Colombo. 

At the launch ceremony, Department of Census and Statistics Director General Dr. A.J. Satharasinghe said that in order to meet the much-needed health statistics on chronic illnesses, acute illnesses and some other important areas at the household level, the DCS conducted a year-long household survey on health in 2014. This is reported to be the first countrywide survey of self-reported (without medical tests or clinical examination) health status in Sri Lanka.

According to the survey, 18% of the population or nearly one in six people havereported some chronic illness. The overall disease prevalence shows variations by sex, age, geographic location, occupation, industry and employment groups.

Chronic illnesses are those that persist for long time periods. Chronic illnesses considered in this study include diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases, stroke, cancer, asthma, mental illness, arthritis, epilepsy, etc. Chronic illness prevalence, as can be expected, increases with age. More than half (55%) of the elderly over 60 years of age have reported some chronic illness. 

The prevalence of diabetes and high blood pressure among members of the population who are 15 years and above is 7% and 9% respectively. There are differences in the prevalence of chronic diseases among employment and industry categories. For example, the highest prevalence of diabetes (13%) and high blood pressure (8%) are reported for the category of ‘Senior Officials and Managers’. The highest prevalence of diabetes (7%) is reported for those in the ‘Service’ sector compared to the two sectors of ‘Industries’ (4%) and ‘Agriculture’ (4%). Geographically, the prevalence of diabetes (11%) in the population over 15 years is the highest in the Colombo district.

The report shows that 15% of the total population has received treatment for any acute illness considered in the study during four weeks prior to the survey. An acute illness is an illness that onsets very rapidly and is of short duration. Acute illnesses are more common among children under 15 years. Nearly one in five children (24 %) experienced an acute illness in the month prior to the survey.

The survey inquired about accidents for which treatments were received during three months prior to the survey. Home is the place where 43% of the accidents have occurred. For children less than 15 years this proportion is even more (57%). Accident-related illnesses have been quite high among certain occupational categories. Among the employed persons who met with an accident, about 34% were ‘Skilled Agricultural and Fishery Workers’ and nearly 25% were ‘Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers’.

The report carrying all the findings of the survey is now available on the DCS website: www.statistics.gov.lk.

M. I. M. Rafeek, the Secretary to the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, Dr. P. G. Mahipala, Director General of the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Dr. A. J. Satharasinghe, Director General of Department of Census and Statistics, Prof. Saroj Jayasinghe, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, lecturers from universities, Alain Sibenaler, Country Representative of UNFPA and senior officials from the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Affairs and the Department of Census and Statistics were present at the occasion.