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| Wednesday, 16 June 2004 |
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Major improvement in plantation sector health indicators Vital health indicators in Sri Lanka's plantation sector have improved significantly since privatisation and the establishment of the Plantation Housing and Social Welfare Trust (PHSWT) in 1992, an industry apex body said this week. The work of the Trust, now known as the Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT) which will celebrate its 12th anniversary shortly, had brought several key indicators in the plantations on par or above national averages, the Planters' Association of Ceylon said. The Association, which represents the 23 plantation companies, said that by end of last year, the infant mortality rate (IMR), neo-natal mortality rate (NMR), the incidence of low birth weight (LBW) and the percentage of institutional births (IB) had all recorded impressive improvement in the plantation sector. Quoting statistics compiled by the PHDT, whose work covered a population of 893,000 in 2003, the Association said the infant mortality rate had dropped from 27.9 per 1,000 live births in 1992 to 13.8 last year, an improvement of more than 50 per cent. The neo- natal mortality rate (deaths in the first 28 days of life) had improved from 20.7 per 1000 live births to 9.5 in the same period, which compares well with the last reported national figure of 12.8 in 1997. The overall percentage of low birth weight for estates in 2003 was 12 per cent as against the national figure of 17.1 per cent in 2002. The incidence of LBW was 19.4 in 1992 when the estates were privatised. Additionally, institutional births in the estate sector had increased to 98.3 per cent in 2003 from 85.5 per cent in 1992, reflecting a very positive trend, the Association said. The Planters' Association Secretary General Malin Goonetileke said: "These social indicators also reflect the investments made by the plantation companies in social welfare, following wide acknowledgement that a contented, motivated workforce will help increase productivity and profitability of estates." He said that total investment on social welfare initiatives in the plantations since 1992 has now reached Rs 2.63 billion. These investments have been channelled to new and/or upgraded housing projects, water supply and sanitation schemes, hospitals and community centres, childcare facilities, road and transport infrastructure, health programs and community mobilisation initiatives. |
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