Sri Lanka Population Information Centre

Population Division, Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine
231 De Saram Place, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka
Tel: (94-1) 699149
Fax: (94-1) 686976
E-mail: dirpop@slt.lk
Access to the Internet: Yes

The Sri Lanka Population Information Centre, as a result of the growing demand for population information, continues to play a dynamic and leading role in the population information, education and communication programme of the government by providing support for the formulation of policies, plans and programmes. It also provides policy makers, parliamentarians, planners, administrators and programme managers, researchers, students and the general public with information needed to realize the objectives of policies and programmes. In doing all this, the Centre has been able to build its information resource base and expand its data collection, processing, repackaging and dissemination activities to reach a wide array of clients.

The Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine, the Honorable Siripala de Silva (left), reviews some prize-winning posters with Dr. A. T.P.L. Abeykoon, Director of the Ministry's Population Division. The Minister was the chief guest at the prize-awarding ceremony of the 1998 UNFPA poster contest. The first prize in the subsequent international contest was won by a Sri Lankan participant in the age category 6-8.

The Sri Lanka Population Information Centre (SLPIC), which was established in 1979, has played a leading role in this regard. This has been achieved through the repackaging and distribution of pamphlets, data sheets and posters, and through outreach programmes such as seminars, films and slide shows. The Centre's work also includes other areas such as research, computerized database creation and the conducting of seminars for high school students and elected members of local bodies.

In 1990, the government brought under the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine population policy planning and population information activities, which had earlier been under the Ministry of Policy Planning. This enabled population policy planning, IEC strategy development, and the implementation of family planning service delivery to be brought under the purview of a single Ministry.

The work of SLPIC ranges from the conduct of field research studies to assess the impact of IEC activities to the undertaking of studies to assess information needs in various parts of the country. The Population Division also creates computer-based population development models for population information dissemination activities.

Another of the Centre's activities is the translation of various English-language publications on Sri Lanka into the Sinhala language, which are then distributed to relevant target audiences. It also translates suitable material from Sinhala into the Tamil language.

Sri Lanka is famous for tea and the development indicators that reflect the relatively high status of women in the economy. Whether women work on the tea plantations or in professional positions in the capital, they are likely to be literate, well nourished and enjoying the other benefits of development.

The Sri Lanka Population Information Centre continues to publish its bi-annual Population Bulletin which has gained popularity among students at all levels. The content and format have been redesigned in recognition of the emerging needs of this target population. In addition, the Annual Population Data Sheet has proved to be a valuable source of information to planners, administrators and researchers. Library accession lists are compiled and distributed to relevant audiences bi-annually. This has helped to expand the inter-library network and provide up-to-date information to users.

Other publications include directories, bibliographies and various monographs, such as one entitled "Emerging Population Issues in Sri Lanka", which was prepared for the Sri Lanka Group of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development.

Recently, a major publication was produced entitled "Action Plan to Implement Sri Lanka's Population and Reproductive Health Policy during the Period 2000-2010".

SLPIC has established an in-country POPIN network, which has 102 institutions as members. In this context, the Centre has initiated a series of publications in collaboration with the District POPIN network; the District Population Profiles provide important demographic, economic and health statistics.

Sri Lanka Population Information Centre

Resource base

Size of collection:
12,000 book titles, 25 periodical titles, 50 audio-visual materials

Classification/cataloguing systems:
IPPS (will switch to UDC)/AACR2

lnformation-handling equipment:
Standard office and library equipment, personal computers, photocopy and photographic equipment, audio-visual equipment etc., all of which items are used for applications such as data manipulation and analysis, storage and retrieval of abstracts/bibliographic information, cataloguing, mailing list maintenance, correspondence, budgeting etc.

Products and services

Publications:
Annotated bibliographies, acquisition lists of books/periodicals, directories, policy briefs, research reports, case studies, translations, brochures, flyers, posters, data sheets, newsletter

Services:
Enquiry/reference, abstracting/indexing, referral, repackaging of information through publications, inter-library loans, literature searches, organization of meetings/training courses, briefing programmes for politicians and students, translation services

Types of users served:
Policy makers, politicians, programme planners and decision makers, programme administrators and project managers, researchers, university and high school students

Other:
Member of Asia-Pacific POPIN, HELLIS and DEVINSA