Rethink, Rebuild, Rise - SRHR/HIV integration and community leadership in a new funding era - Bridging the gap: Raising community-led responses in SRHR/HIV integration

Dr Mihitha Basnayake is Senior Manager, Advocacy at the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka, the IPPF Member Association in Sri Lanka. He leads the organisation's five-year advocacy strategy, covering reform of Sri Lanka's abortion law, repeal of the Vagrancy Ordinance, and decriminalisation of same-sex conduct under Penal Code Sections 365 and 365A. This work is carried out through sustained engagement with the Ministry of Health, the National STD/AIDS Control Programme, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Women's Affairs.

Under the Global Fund's SKPA-2 programme, he oversees FPASL's work on domestic financing for the HIV response, community-led monitoring, CSO and CBO engagement, performance-based contracting, human rights and gender programming, and the introduction of chemsex harm reduction in a criminalised setting. He represents Sri Lanka in the IPPF Sex Work Consortium alongside partners in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Colombia, and in IPPF regional and global advocacy platforms. 

He holds an MBBS, a Postgraduate Diploma in International Gender Studies from the GRO GEST Programme at the University of Iceland, and an MSc in Public Health specialising in Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Outside FPASL, he directs Liberal Fellowship, a youth organisation working on democratic participation and values-based leadership, and co-created Safe Circles, a trilingual platform producing accessible SRHR content for young people in Sri Lanka.

Dr Mihitha Basnayake is Senior Manager, Advocacy at the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka, the IPPF Member Association in Sri Lanka. He leads the organisation's five-year advocacy strategy, covering reform of Sri Lanka's abortion law, repeal of the Vagrancy Ordinance, and decriminalisation of same-sex conduct under Penal Code Sections 365 and 365A. This work is carried out through sustained engagement with the Ministry of Health, the National STD/AIDS Control Programme, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Women's Affairs.

Under the Global Fund's SKPA-2 programme, he oversees FPASL's work on domestic financing for the HIV response, community-led monitoring, CSO and CBO engagement, performance-based contracting, human rights and gender programming, and the introduction of chemsex harm reduction in a criminalised setting. He represents Sri Lanka in the IPPF Sex Work Consortium alongside partners in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Colombia, and in IPPF regional and global advocacy platforms. 

He holds an MBBS, a Postgraduate Diploma in International Gender Studies from the GRO GEST Programme at the University of Iceland, and an MSc in Public Health specialising in Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Outside FPASL, he directs Liberal Fellowship, a youth organisation working on democratic participation and values-based leadership, and co-created Safe Circles, a trilingual platform producing accessible SRHR content for young people in Sri Lanka.