History

The Directorate of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD), was first established in 1998 in the Ministry of Health to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate the national Programme for prevention and control of chronic NCDs. The post of Medical Officers of Non-Communicable Disease (MONCD), the district focal point, was created in 2003 to coordinate the implementation of the NCD program in the districts. The injury prevention unit of the directorate was formally established in 2009 incorporating Injury Prevention also into the national NCD prevention and control Programme.

In 2017 the Deputy Director General/ Non-Communicable Disease (DDG/NCD) was appointed and the NCD Bureau was established to further strengthen the national program for prevention and control for NCDs in the country.

Policy Directives

The National policy and strategic framework for prevention and control of chronic NCDs (2010) guides the national Programme towards its vision "Country that is not burden with chronic NCDs, deaths and disabilities" while the National policy and strategic framework for injury prevention & management in Sri Lanka (2016) gives directives for the injury prevention Programme. The National Multi-sectoral action plan for prevention and control of NCDs (2016-2020) further provides the way forward with the multi-sectoral involvement for NCD prevention and control in the country.

Coordination mechanisms were established at National, provincial and regional levels to monitor the implementation of the NCD Programme. The Directorate of NCD serves as the operational and overall coordination body in implementing the chronic NCD and injury prevention policies and the MSAP under the guidance of the NCD Council, and National NCD steering committee, National Advisory board for NCDs and National Committee for Prevention of Injuries.

Programme Structure

The Directorate of Non-Communicable Diseases is the national focal point for NCD prevention and control in Sri Lanka. The Director NCD works under the administrative purview of the Deputy Director General of NCD (DDG/NCD). The Medical Officer-Non-Communicable Diseases (MO-NCD) is the focal point for the NCD prevention control activities at district level, under the administrative purview of the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) and the technical guidance is provided by the Regional Consultant Community Physician.

Our Role

The main role of the Directorate of NCD is planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of interventions and initiatives for prevention and control of NCDs in the country. The Directorate works under the four main strategies: Advocacy, partnerships & leadership, Health promotion and risk reduction, Health system strengthening for early detection and management of NCDs and Surveillance, monitoring, evaluation & research. These services are provided through the network of preventive and curative health care institutions. Further the Directorate is involved in formulation of circulars and guidelines, and capacity building of the human resources on NCDs.

The Directorate of NCD is considered as the National focal point for injury prevention and operational and overall coordinating body in implementing the National Injury Policy and work towards the prevention of unintentional injuries under five strategic areas; advocacy, partnership and leadership, health promotion and risk reduction, post event care and rehabilitation, capacity building and surveillance, monitoring, evaluation and research.

The Directorate of NCD in collaboration with health and non-health sector stakeholders, plays a leading role to establish a well-coordinated multi-sectoral approach to reduce Non-Communicable diseases including injuries.