The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 3 emphasizes the importance of ensuring good health and well-being for all individuals, including animals and ecosystems. However, it is crucial to examine the implications of this goal within the specific context of disaster and development. This proposed presentation for the webinar will examine the idea of good health and well-being in the context of South Asia. As generally conceptualized within geographical and cultural terms, South Asia consists of the countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan. Home to 1.9 billion people, South Asia is also one of the most socially and culturally diverse regions in the World with various challenges to natural hazards, and development. Against this backdrop, it is important to understand the challenges and opportunities for facilitating good health and well-being within the South Asian region. The presentation will provide a platform for participants to critically engage with the key concepts, policies, and practices associated with advancing health and well-being in the region.
Sri Lankan by birth and disposition, Janaka Jayawickrama is a social anthropologist. He is mostly known for his work on concepts of care, health, and wellbeing related to disasters, conflicts, and uneven development. Janaka has led responses to many disasters, including the 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka. Janaka is interested in the question of how lived experiences generate concepts; how ancient philosophical traditions as generative of theoretical and practical approaches to facilitate wellbeing; and how to reduce the gap between human beings and nature; His work has appeared in many anthologies. Janaka is currently Professor of Social Anthropology and Director of the Research Centre for Health and Wellbeing at College of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University, China. He holds many honorary positions at universities in China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the UK.
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