Sri Lanka has successfully controlled agricultural kidney disease, and Central American countries now want to learn from its experience, says Professor Channa Jayasumana.

Sep 4, 2025 at 09:45 AM

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Lanka Leader

Agricultural kidney disease, first observed in tropical countries in the mid-1990s, has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. It particularly affected rice farmers in Sri Lanka and India, and sugarcane farmers in Central America, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala.

For over 15 years, the cause remained unclear. Between 2012 and 2016, however, a team of Sri Lankan researchers led by Professor Channa Jayasumana identified agrochemicals as the main culprit. They showed that these chemicals entered the body through contaminated drinking water, and that providing clean water could effectively control the disease.

Although controversial at first, their findings have since been validated by international studies. Acting on this evidence, the Sri Lankan government launched a nationwide program to install reverse osmosis filtration systems in high-risk areas. Recent Ministry of Health statistics confirm that the disease has been significantly reduced.

Recognizing this achievement, the University of Costa Rica invited Prof. Jayasumana to share Sri Lanka’s experience. During his recent visit, he conducted awareness seminars in Liberia and San Jose, attended by doctors, scholars, health officials, and students. Costa Rica now hopes to adopt similar measures.

While debates on the disease’s origins continue in other countries, Sri Lanka has been widely praised for its decisive action, which not only curbed a deadly epidemic but also provided a model for global public health response.