Global Initiative on Psychiatry – Sri Lanka

FGIP has been involved in mental health acre development in Sri Lanka for over twenty years and works in collaboration with a number of local NGOs. Since 2018 FGIP has a member organization in Sri Lanka, FGIP-Sri Lanka, that is headed by Dr. Mahesan Ganesan

In the course of time we have been involved in upgrading forensic psychiatric services and creating a new and more humane treatment facility for forensic psychiatric patients in Angoda. For many years we contributed to a program to deinstitutionalize female patients in a facility outside Colombo and helped women return to society. We supported the program to set up Gender Based Violence Desks (GBVs), and developed services for children with learning disabilities. Over the past six years FGIP implemented a project as part of large intervention by the Government of Sri Lanka to upgrade hospital infrastructure in the Northern Province (NP) by investing in renewing and expanding capacity, both in inpatient and outpatient healthcare. Mental health technical assistance focused on improving the service delivery capacity of the available government mental health resources in the province. This was achieved through carefully designed and sensitively implemented training programs and supportive capacity building and team building interventions.

Today, FGIP sees itself at the front guard of mental health innovation, maximally using all the technical possibilities of the digital age to help underserved communities to access mental health services and building a resilient mental health.

The Federation Global Initiative on Psychiatry cannot remain silent:

Who protects those who protect others?

In a statement issued on December 10, 2025, the Trump administration announced its opposition to the resolution Safety and Security of Humanitarian Personnel and Protection of UN Personnel. The resolution, which emphasizes the need to comply with international humanitarian law, addresses the need to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers and UN personnel in conflict zones. It also calls for accountability for attacks on these workers.
 
While the United States claims to take the safety and security of humanitarian personnel seriously, it cannot support this resolution, which it considers purely symbolic. It sees it as a waste of resources and moreover refuses to contribute to the promotion of a radical gender ideology, such as that promoted by the United Nations. An ideology that, according to the Trump administration, undermines true equality between biological men and women.
 
President Trump, a man who used his wealth and status to avoid military service, is thus disparaging doctors, nurses, and other humanitarian workers who work in conflict zones like Gaza or Ukraine. Among which there are undoubtedly ‘real men and women’.
 
The Trump administration’s full eccentric reasoning can be read here: