Introduction Project SERPENT

11 March 2024 - 18 March 2024 (week 1)

For the first time in Little Leaders Foundation history we are conducting a public health project. This project is executed by two students from the Leiden University of Applied Sciences. Myself, Kintan van Leeuwen (Executive Director), and Floortje Tamerus (Volunteer). This initiative is part of our Minor International Health Development where we met each other. Now we are joining forces with Little Leaders Foundation, Bridging Lanka and the Sri Lankan Public Health Department. Project Snakebite Envenoming Rural Prevention & Treatment (SERPENT) will bring awareness to rural communities about the prevention and treatment of snakebites.

The City

Colombo is the commercial capital city located on the west coast of Sri Lanka. The city is the largest of the country amounting to over 5.6 million residents. Did you know that Colombo was made the capital city by the British Empire in 1815?

Meeting Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni

We started our journey in Colombo to meet with our contact person at the Public Health Department. Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni used to be the Chief Medical Officer of the Public Health Department Colombo Municipal Council for over 20 years. After being retired for one day Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni was asked to become head of the Health Curative Department Colombo Municipal Council, where he is stationed now. Through Little Leaders Foundation’s network in Sri Lanka, I was able to get in contact with Dr. Ruwan in order to establish a collaboration for a public health project.

The first day after arriving in Sri Lanka we had an appointment scheduled with Dr. Ruwan. Still jet lagged and without access to the internet we had to navigate our way through the city in a Tuk Tuk, looking for Dr. Ruwan’s office. Eventually we found Dr. Ruwan in a building across from a hospital. Yes, we did look inside the hospital first for Dr. Ruwan, and no, he does not work there.

Despite the rocky start Dr. Ruwan welcomed us with open arms and enthusiastically showed us a copy of our Research Proposal which he had printed out and written notes on. During our meeting we got approval for conducting this research and a lot of advice on how to do so in the context of rural Sri Lanka.

According to Dr. Ruwan there currently is not much being done to raise awareness about snakebite envenoming in Sri Lanka. Despite the ratio of humans to snakes contact is only increasing due to the population growth and urbanisation. Most people, especially in the rural areas, take it upon themselves to try and prevent snakes from entering their homes. Methods vary from pouring kerosene around their property to repel snakes, to catching and killing snakes upon encountering. Another thing we learned from Dr. Ruwan is that Ayurvedic Doctors are more often than not consulted, instead of Western Medicinal Practices (e.g. hospitals) after a person is bitten by a snake.

Floortje, Kintan and Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni

After speaking with Dr. Ruwan it became clear to us that there is a lot to learn about local beliefs. We do not intend to challenge local customs, rather we want to understand them. It will be important to us that we find a way in which traditional healing and western medicine can go hand in hand to contribute to the health of people in rural areas. In this case, it will be interesting to learn about what people already know and do to prevent and treat snakebites. To really understand why they may or may not have a certain belief system, and not to challenge these but rather borrow from them.

Therefore, the next steps of the project will be to create a Pre Test to measure the knowledge that teachers already have pertaining to snakebite prevention and treatment. Furthermore, we will organise focus groups with teachers to learn how these teachers have acquired this knowledge. The reason we have chosen teachers as our target population is because they are in the position of passing on knowledge to others. Teachers also have a responsibility for protecting the health and well being of their students. Our ultimate goal with Project SERPENT is to raise awareness about snakebites and for this knowledge to stay within the communities that we will be working with.

We feel very honoured to have the guidance of Dr. Ruwan who has a lot of experience and knowledge in a sector that is new to the both of us.

Bohoma istuti!