7th CAPSCA-AP regional meeting concludes in Colombo

Monday, 26 May 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The 7th regional meeting of the Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and management of public health events in Civil Aviation (CAPSCA-AP) was successfully concluded in Colombo last week.

It was hosted by Sri Lanka for the first time under the aegis of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka. The 7th CAPSCA-AP meeting brought together aviation and public health sector stakeholders, to facilitate further collaboration to mitigate the risks from public health emergencies that affect the aviation sector. It also addressed experiences, methodology and guidelines for CAPSCA State and airport assistance visits as well as measures to strengthen communications and coordination between public health institutions and the aviation sector.

Sri Lanka maintaining a very good standard in Aviation Safety compared with some other countries since modern aviation history began in 1912, when the first aircraft completed a successful flight from Sri Lankan soil. Keeping with this success the need of proper management of Public Health Events in air transport was given priority under the leadership of Ministry of Civil Aviation Secretary Dr. Ravindra Ruberu in 2012. As the air traffic through Sri Lanka has tremendously increased in the recent past, risk of rapid dissemination of communicable diseases and Public Health Events are more likely which may affect the National economy. After several communications between ICAO and Ministry of Civil Aviation, Sri Lanka obtained the membership of the CAPSCA project in December 2012. Since then Sri Lanka has come a long way by developing National Civil aviation Plan for Prevention of Public Health Emergencies through air travel, which was launched at the Opening ceremony of the 7th CAPSCA-AP meeting.