21st Century Demons & Universal Health Access in Sri Lanka

By Nalaka GunawardeneScience Writer, Blogger andColumnist (Ravaya, Ceylon Today)nalakagunawardene.com

College of Community Physicians Sri Lanka Annual Sessions: Colombo, 24 Sep 2013

My Approach: engaged layman Covered science, technology

& environment & public health in media for 25 yrs

‘Bridging’ experts & publics Asking many questions… Seeking answers & clarity:

Curious, eager, open-minded As sceptical enquirer No political agenda

Public Health & Public Perceptions Dosthara Wisthara: A

Doctor’s Experiences (2002) By Dr Ariyasena U Gamage

(MBBS, MD), former senior lecturer in community medicine, Univ of Peradeniya

Stories & impressions from 25 yrs in SL public health service

Empathetic insights on sociology, psychology and anthropology of health

Public Health & Public Perceptions Most patients coming to public

hospitals have already tried non-medical (i.e. belief-based) attempts at healing

Some of these do no harm (except delay); a few even reassure patients & families

Others do mislead, mistreat and complicate ailments

YET SUCH PRACTICES ARE: Deeply embedded in culture Direct dismissals won’t work

Confrontational approach:Favoured by our Chief Myth-Buster

Kerala-born science teacher came to live in Ceylon in 1950s

1959 on: Took to investigating ‘supernatural’ phenomena & ‘paranormal’ practices.

Found adequate physical or psychological explanations for almost all ‘mysteries’

1960: Founded Ceylon Rationalist Association, which continues his work todate

Dr Abraham T Kovoor (1898 - 1978)

Kovoor’s way: Scientific Method, all the way…

No absolute truths No dogmas No SACRED COWS!But 50 yrs later, debate still rages on: How best to relate to

Indigenous knowledge What about those

exploiting IK as a cover?

Indigenous Knowledge or just Romanticised Dogma?

Cartoon by Awantha Artigala, Daily Mirror, 22 June 2011

Kovoor’s approach: investigate, analyse, expose & debunk myths/frauds

Amplify findings through supportive media Can this work TODAY, e.g. about ‘faith healing’?

LK Society less tolerant (fraudsters now engage thugs!) LK Media less critical (airwaves crowded with black magic!)

Can Rationalists Awaken the Sleep-walking Lankan Nation?

Op-Ed essay by Nalaka Gunawardene Groundviews.org, 12 Jan 2013 http://tiny.cc/Rat21

L to R: Abraham T Kovoor, Carlo Fonseka, Dharmapala Senaratne

Mass media as 21st Century Pied Pipers! TV matters most in LK Pipers’ Tunes may be fully

sponsored… Freedom to do so can’t be

blocked in open societies with market economy

Instead, we can & must strengthen media literacy

Timeless advice: Caveat emptor (Buyer beware!)

ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982) Lovely tale of a benign

alien being making friends with Earth kids

ET had magical healing powers in his finger-tip

No such powers found in humans, despite various claims of faith healers!

We can suspend disbelief for imagined stories, NOT in real life!

Have Lankans Suspended Disbelief -- Permanently? “Is ‘suspended disbelief’

becoming a default setting for many Lankans? Despite high levels literacy and schooling, is our society more gullible and paranoid now than a generation ago? If so, why?”

I asked this in my Sunday column in Ceylon Today, 22 Sep 2013

Full text: http://tiny.cc/SusDB

Old Demons & New Demons:Something for everyone?

As literacy & education spread, less people accept/peddle traditional LK demons (Maha Sona, Mohinee, Riri Yaka, et al.)

21st Century Demons have emerged: Urban myths & paranoia Various conspiracy theories Growing list of ‘Public Enemies’ said to

be “plotting against fragile Lanka & her people”

“Foreign hands” at work???

Health-linked phobias/myths abound!

Mobile phones (instruments & transmission towers): harmful?

Mass panic about Arsenic in rice Phobias about all things

‘chemical’ or ‘synthetic’ So-called ‘contraceptive

conspiracies’ gaining ground Etc, etc.

New Demons often dressed in clothes of Pseudo-Science…

Superficially projected as ‘technical’ BUT without the rigour & self-correction inherent in real science

2012 End of the World claims dominated by pseudo-science

“Pseudoscience speaks to powerful emotional needs that science often leaves unfulfilled. It caters to fantasies about personal powers we lack and long for.” - Carl Sagan (1934-96)

Everyone Loves a Good Myth:We had a good laugh in 2012!

Dominant public & media perception:Lanka as “Hapless Island under siege”

Projecting a vulnerable island

Image created: “Lanka vulnerable to evil forces both internal & external”

Worth further research by you:Health Myths in Sri Lanka: 3 Kinds

First Kind: Personal beliefs

or habits Based on dated

info or hearsay Does no harm to

holders or rest of society

No health policy implications or costs

Second Kind: Exaggerations or

distortions Repeated by many

without questioning Harmful to believer

in certain situations May have policy

implications & costs No major societal

damage Easily debunked

Third Kind: Fabrications by

vested interests Falsified science

and/or wrong interpretations

Actively peddled to confuse our public

High potential for fear & panic

Can hold up or confuse policy responses

MYTHS get in the way… Discourage individual action Feed into apathy & fatalism Mislead collective action Misguide, distort or paralyse policy Can also lead, in some cases, to:

waste of public funds Irreversible damage/loss lost opportunities to act in time massive costs of repair/restoration

From GOSL/WHO/Unicef poster on national immunization programme of Sri Lanka

NOT advocating simplistic, pure technocratic solutions…

Like individuals, nations also not always driven by rational arguments or scientific logic…

Emotions & beliefs matter! Let’s not look for simple techno

fixes to real world problems… PLEA: Open-minded, broad-

based discussion & debate Instead of DOGMA or BELIEF!

Real Life isn’t a movie!

Our Only Defence against Demons (Old & New): Vigilant Minds!

Ceylon Today column:http://collidecolumn.wordpress.comBlog:nalakagunawardene.comTwitter:twitter.com/NalakaGEmail:alien@nalaka.org

Everything here is open to debate

Thanks!