CNAPT’S success in TB eradication

The Ceylon National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (CNAPT) marks it 60th anniversary today.

The Ceylon National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis was the brainchild of Dr. J.H. Jayasuriya. He realised the need for a voluntary organisation to augment the efforts of the Government to control the diseases. He initially conceived the idea, implemented it and eventually built and nurtured the CNAPT into a very effective organisation.

The Association came into being, as a result of the need for a concentrated effort to eradicate tuberculosis, which was causing a heavy toll among the population of Sri Lanka. Since its advent, the association has provided a sustained service that has made significant strides in the prevention and control of tuberculosis throughout the country.

The CNAPT is a community organisation of the public and doctors, with a strong determination to achieve TB control in the quickest possible time.

The CNAPT represents a promise that public awareness would be kept high educate the people and assist the State in the control of the disease. In all countries, success has been achieved largely through the work of the National TB Associations.

Despite the success achieved by the health authorities in many countries up to now the World Health Organisation has warned of the resurgence of tuberculosis and fore warned that in the next 10 years approximately 90 million people would be affected by this disease. The WHO has declared Tuberculosis a Global emergency.

A poignant issue was the plight of the children afflicted by the disease, for whom there was no special hospital accommodation. The CNAPT stepped into remedy the situation by building three wards in hospitals. These were the Welisara Children’s Ward (1952), the Hawke Memorial Ward at Kandana (1955) and the Clarence Nathanielz Memorial Ward in Welisera (1960) which provided a total of 165 beds exclusively for children.

Provincial chest clinics as a means of controlling the disease in the provinces, were first conceived of by the CNAPT at a time when only Colombo had such facilities. The first such clinic outside Colombo was built in Galle at the insistence of CNAPT.

The Global Fund against Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) has allocated to the CNAPT the functions of implementing a project. National Level Study on Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of the Public in Relation to Tuberculosis.