Dr Kapila Jayaratne

Dr Kapila Jayaratne is a Consultant Community Physician with over 24 years of experience in both clinical and preventive sectors especially in the fields of maternal and child health and epidemiology. He rejuvenated the existing maternal death surveillance & response system in Sri Lanka adding numerous quality dimensions to recognize it as a good model globally. Currently, he is the national focal point for surveillance of stillbirths, infant deaths, child deaths and birth defects. He pioneered systematic data collection, civil death registration and conducting post-mortems of maternal and feto-infant deaths in Sri Lanka. He also contributed to the WHO ICD-PM classification. He was actively involved in reshaping maternal and child health service delivery by translating lessons learnt out of maternal and feto-infant deaths into practice in the country.

Dr. Jayaratne’s research has focused on maternal & child morbidity & mortality. He was the country coordinator and investigator in several multi-country surveys including WHO’s Global Maternal Sepsis Study (GLOSS) and WHO’s Multi-country Survey on Maternal and Newborn Health and Zika-related microcephaly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. He has also contributed to studies on medical certification of cause of death, unplanned pregnancies, family planning, advanced maternal age and preterm births.