About
The Maternal and Child Health Research Units (MCHRU) of Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka was established in 2012 to develop maternal and child health evidence base in Sri Lanka and to develop capacities of all levels of public health staff through hands on public health education. Center was established through the resources available from a grant from Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) of EngenderHealth in 2010. The landmark research studies by the MCHRU is welcomed and praised by the global maternal health community and commented in leading maternal health meetings. Research publications from the MCHRU are included in leading Harvard-PLOS series on Maternal Health.
Later the MCHRU has expanded it’s research and service agenda to include all public health research and service activities and currently functioning as a center of excellence for public health research and training in the North Central Province
The Maternal and Child Health Research Unit (MCHRU) of the Department of Community Medicine was established in 2012 and during the past decade has been a centre of excellence in maternal and child health and related research and training. The centre has not only carried out numerous capacity building activities, provided career/higher-education opportunities for undergraduate and
postgraduate trainees, researchers and service providers; but also, has initiated a number of social welfare and community-based activities, specifically focusing on disadvantaged groups of communities. Moreover, the impact of the high-quality evidence generated through collaborative research of the MCHRU funded by highly competitive international/local research grants is evident
through the crucial national-level policy changes, especially in maternal and child health service delivery.
Director
Dr.Nuwan Wickramasinghe
Previous directors
2012-2015: Prof.Suneth Agampodi
2015-2018: Prof.Thilini Agampodi
Ongoing Projects
GEEPMD: Generating Evidence for Ending Preventable Maternal Deaths
Vender Study: RCT to determine whether pesticide vendor training reduces pesticide self-poisoning in rural Asia.
ECLIPSE: Empowering people with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: Intervention Programme to improve patient journey and reduce Stigma via community Education
ICIDR: Assessing Global Burden of Leptospirosis in Two Endemic Countries
Previous grants/ projects
2010-12: Engender Health. Disease Burden and the Economic Impact of Maternal Morbidity in Sri Lanka
2014: World Health Organization Country Office, Sri Lanka. Evaluation of the midday meal assessment programme in North Central Province.
2014: World Health Organization Country Office, Sri Lanka. Training primary health care physicians in health service research
2017: Joint SEARO/TDR small Grants for implementation research in infectious disease of Poverty. Agampodi et al. Feasibility of adopting a protocol on Tuberculosis contact screening for Kurunegala district Tuberculosis control programme: An Implementation Research.
2018: World Health Organization Country Office, Sri Lanka.
2019: World Health Organization Country Office, Sri Lanka. Training Public Health Nursing Sisters (PHNS) on Health Research
