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Public health is the organized effort by the entire society to prevent disease, restore health if damaged, and to promote health of the general public. As a team of medical professionals involved in public health in different capacities, we wish to share the experience gained by us, in our endeavour to control COVID-19 whilst working with the general public, health professionals, and other officials from government and non-government organisations. We hope this knowledge will contribute to broaden the perception about public health among medical professionals, thus contributing to improving public health services in the country especially in managing disease outbreaks. This concept note is written on the 66 day (17 May 2020) following the confirmation of the 1 local patient with COVID-19. Many in the general public and the Health Care Professionals (HCPs)appear to be happy about the current COVID19 control status of the country, achieved through organised efforts of all stakeholders. However, we would like to highlight a few important factors which we identified as obstacles to the effectiveness of outbreak control measures. Among the many obstacles we encountered, stigma attached to the disease and gaps in professional skills related to risk assessment for COVID-19 were high on the list. The stigma attached to COVID-19 resulted in an unacceptable level of fear among the general public as well as HCPs. Stigma has led to HCPs not trusting patie histories. Unethical use of the media was one of the main reasons for the stigma associated with COVID19. A large proportion of the general public did not receive enough scientific information about the disease and its preventive measures through the media. Instead, they were overloaded with emotionally provocative information. Many media reports were delivered in a judgemental manner, and frequently the fault was attributed to individuals who got the disease whilst some patients were labelled as to have hidden pertinent facts or lied about their

sri lanka journal of medicine

Ground realities of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka: a public health experience on fear, stigma and the importance of improving professional skills among health care professionals