On Easter Sunday, 21st April 2019, an extremist group carried out coordinated attacks which targeted Sri Lankan civilians at their places of worship and socialization. While the lives lost did include foreign nationals, the majority were those of locals who were unrelated to the cause of the extremist group. These sudden and unexpected attacks have left survivors and relatives of the deceased is a state of severe distress, struggling to find reason in the fate that befell them.
The Institute for Research & Development in Health & Social Sciences (IRD), as in the past, is committed towards facilitating the moulding of national policy on mental health, in order to protect those who have been affected by the Easter 2019 tragedy.