Ministry of Health and Mass Media and World Health Organization (WHO) co-convened a national consultative meeting on the implementation of the WHO Resolution on Health Humanities on 17 March 2026. It brought together senior leadership from the Ministry of Health and Mass Media, Deans and representatives from Faculties of Medicine and representatives from the University Grants Commission.
The Resolution on “Introducing health humanities to health professional education and training in the WHO South-East Asia Region” was adopted at the 78th WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia held in October 2025 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is a landmark Resolution which was led by Sri Lanka and is the first of its kind within the WHO system.
Opening the consultation, Dr Rajesh Pandav, WHO Representative to Sri Lanka, underscored the importance of Health Humanities in strengthening empathy, compassion, and person‑centered care within increasingly complex health systems. He further highlighted Sri Lanka’s role as a pioneer in the area and reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to support the implementation of the Resolution.
Today’s meeting represents not only a national initiative but also a reaffirmation of Sri Lanka’s leadership in shaping the regional and global health agenda. This groundbreaking Resolution was initially drafted by Sri Lanka and adopted by Ministers of Health of the South-East Asia Region in October 2025. It is the first time that the WHO has formally recognized the role of the Humanities in strengthening health professional education and training. WHO is committed to supporting evidence generation, capacity building, cross-country learning, and knowledge-sharing and will work closely with Ministry of Health and Universities to ensure that Sri Lanka not only implements the Resolution effectively, but also continues to lead the work in the Region.
Dr Asela Gunawardena, Director General of Health Services, highlighted Sri Lanka’s leadership in securing the adoption of the Resolution and emphasized the need to understand the “person behind the patient,” noting that Health Humanities is essential for fostering empathy, cultural responsiveness, ethical practice, and effective communication. In the context of the ongoing Primary Health Care (PHC) reorganization, which prioritizes bringing services closer to communities, he reaffirmed the Ministry of Health’s commitment to embedding Health Humanities across training for all categories of health workers, in close collaboration with Universities, the University Grants Commission, and WHO.
As the Ministry of Health, we have a role to embed Health Humanities across all levels of education and training within the Ministry. It should go beyond doctors and extend to all categories of frontline health workers whose training is under our purview. With the current Government’s efforts to transform Primary Health Care service delivery through the establishment of Arogya Health and Wellness Centers - which aims to provide comprehensive, continuous, people‑centered care - our health workers must not only be technically competent but also deeply empathetic, culturally responsive and skilled in-patient communication. Integration of Health Humanities to health professional training becomes essential to achieve this goal.
Representing the WHO South‑East Asia Regional Office (SEARO), Mr Manoj Jhalani, Director, Department of Universal Health Coverage / Health Systems, placed the Resolution within a broader regional transformation. While countries in the Region have significantly expanded their health workforce, concerns persist regarding quality of care, compassion, and respectful treatment of patients. Against rapid technological and digital advances, he emphasized the continued relevance of Health Humanities in shaping health professionals who are not only technically competent, but also ethical, empathetic, and people‑centered.
A detailed overview of the Resolution and its evolution was presented by Mr Ibadat Dhillon, Head of the PHC, Integrated Services, Health Workforces and Traditional, Complementary and Integrated Medicine (TCIM) Unit of WHO SEARO, who highlighted the extensive regional consultations that informed its development, including a 2023 regional workshop hosted by Sri Lanka. These discussions revealed a shared concern across countries about declining empathy and the fragmented nature of existing humanities initiatives. The Resolution calls for systematic integration of Health Humanities into health professional education, encouragement of innovation and research, and strengthening of regional and global knowledge exchange to advance compassionate care.
Each of the Universities then described how they are integrating Health Humanities into the undergraduate curriculum. It was noted that most of the faculties already have well established teaching and learning methods related to Health Humanities. Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo has a dedicated Department of Medical Humanities since 2016, while for most other Universities, Health Humanities is a core component of the Personal and Professional Development Stream. It was also noted that teaching of Health Humanities is integrated across streams and a special emphasis is given on how it is incorporated into clinical teaching. Faculties also discussed challenges, including limited human resources, variability in faculty engagement, assessment practices, and the need for staff development in mentoring and humanities‑based teaching. Collectively, the presentations demonstrated that while approaches vary, there is strong national commitment to embedding humanistic values alongside clinical competence.
Discussions emphasized that Health Humanities should extend beyond undergraduate medical education to encompass dental, nursing, allied health and traditional medicine. Further, it should expand to postgraduate and in‑service training. Participants highlighted the importance of engagement with the University Grants Commission, professional colleges and associations, and the regulators, to explore potential links to accreditation, licensing, and continuing professional development.
The consultation concluded with agreement on a clear roadmap, including the establishment of a Core Group on Health Humanities, compilation of a national status overview, engagement with key regulatory and professional bodies, identification of research priorities and on regional knowledge‑sharing.
By bringing together national leadership, academic institutions, and regional partners, Sri Lanka has reaffirmed its commitment to placing humanity at the heart of health care and to translating a global WHO Resolution into meaningful, sustained action for the benefit of patients, communities, and health professionals alike.
Further reading:
- Resolution on “Introducing health humanities to health professional education and training in the WHO South-East Asia Region”.
- From Policy to Practice: Implementing the WHO SEARO Health Humanities Resolution in Undergraduate Medical Curricula, Jayasinghe, S., Abeykoon, P., South-East Asian Journal of Medical Education Vol.19, no.2, 2025 - DOI: 10.4038/seajme.v19i2.758