Mitko FHC and UNAIDS Sri Lanka launch online survey ‘TELL US’ to measure sexual behaviour

The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Mitko Family Health Care (Mitko FHC) a social-biz company launched an online survey to measure sexual behaviour of sexually active people in Sri Lanka, in a simple ceremony held at the UNAIDS office on 12 October. This online  survey is open to citizens  of Sri Lanka – 18 years of age or above – and can be accessed by the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MMKGDQ7, or through the Facebook pages of UNAIDS and Mitko Family Health Care. The survey will be officially closed on 10 November.

From left: UNAIDS Administrative Assistant Chandana Jayalal, Mitko Group Director Business Development Sam Stembo, Research Assistant Ayanthi de Zoysa, UNAIDS Sri Lanka Country Manager Dr. Dayanath Ranatunga, UNAIDS Communications Assistant Sandali Gamage, Mitko Group of Companies CEO Udeni Kothalawala and Mitko FHC Director Operations Priyantha Wijeratne

UNAIDS Sri Lanka Country Manager Dr. Dayanath Ranatunga after formally launching the survey stated, “This survey is a collaborative effort with the private sector and could be sighted as a model in the national HIV response.”

He elaborated on the need of the survey as the sexual behavioural patterns of young people have drastically changed in the recent past and the survey findings will be instrumental for future HIV prevention efforts. He further added that an online survey provides a platform for people to express their views more freely due to its confidential context. Dr. Ranatunga is confident that achieving the target of 3,000 responses is indeed a possibility as Sri Lanka is an e-friendly country with a mobile population and a majority of the users have phones with access to the internet.  “We consider it as an honour and a privilege to be associated in this endeavour which is of national importance,” stated Mitko Group of Companies CEO Udeni Kothalawala. “We are confident that the survey outcome would assist HIV/AIDS prevention efforts of the country and also the social business efforts of the company,” she added. Explaining the communication strategy she said that an e-flyer will be mailed to over one million email addresses using the current networks and expressed confidence on a fair response rate – exceeding the target.

Outlining the survey methodology Kothalawala further stated that the questions have been pre-tested and that it appears in all three languages, the whole survey would take less than 10 minutes to complete with no personal information recorded. She further said that ‘The Survey Monkey Platform’ – which is widely used worldwide – is used for this survey as well and that it has an instant data analysis capability which will drastically reduce the lead time needed to produce the final report.

Explaining about Mitko FHC she said that it is a fully fledged commercial company registered under the Companies Act and considering the nature of the work involved it focuses on more of a social nature, with substantial funds spent on education and research as the group identifies itself as a ‘social-biz’ company. This survey is one such initiative where company funds are spent where findings could be used in national preventive strategy formation.

UNAIDS Administrative Assistant Chandana Jayalal, UNAIDS Media Consultant Narada Bakmeewea, UNAIDS Communications Assistant Sandali Gamage, Mitko FHC Director Operations Priyantha Wijeratne and Mitko Group Director Business Development Sam Stembo were also present at the occasion.