Centre for Combating Tobacco (CCT) partnered with Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) and Young Professionals’ Alliance for Health (YouPAH) to conduct a workshop titled “Big Industries, Big Health Problems: How food, beverage and tobacco Industries may harm public health” at the SLMA 139th Anniversary International Medical Congress 2026. It was held at Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams, Colombo on 23rd of July 2026. The workshop examined how the practices of the food, beverage, and tobacco industries shape health and contribute to the growing burden of disease.

The workshop was structured into three major sessions. During the first session, Dr Mahesh Rajasuriya, Lead of CCT, opened with three case studies from the past to illuminate the future. Professor Upendra Bhojani, Senior Research Fellow, from Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, India highlighted how the commercial determinants of health have emerged as major drivers of non-communicable diseases, influencing health behaviours, policy, and health outcomes.

During the second session, the current efforts and success stories in addressing commercial determinants of health were presented with examples from the Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) Sri Lanka, CCT, and YouPAH by Mr Sampath De Seram, Dr Manuja Perera, and Dr Akhila Nilaweera, respectively.

Dr Diyanath Samarasinghe broadened the insights on the way forward in the last session, followed by a fruitful discussion with the attendees. The workshop was chaired by Dr Ananda Rathnayake, Chairperson of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) and Dr. Anula Wijesundara, Chairperson of the SLMA Expert Committee on Tobacco, Alcohol and Illicit Drugs.