Mithuru Piyasa — Sri Lanka's Hospital-Based One-Stop Centres for Gender-Based Violence Survivors

Sri Lanka's Ministry of Health piloted the first 'Mithuru Piyasa' ('Friendly Haven') gender-based-violence desk at Matara Base Hospital in 2007, embedding a trained response team inside the hospital so survivors could receive first-line medical care, counselling, and referral to police, legal aid, and social services without being sent between separate offices.
The Family Health Bureau's Gender and Women's Health Unit, working with UNFPA, expanded the model nationally: 33 hospitals had a Mithuru Piyasa centre by 2015, and roughly 70 now operate island-wide under a shared national protocol and common staff training.
A peer-reviewed study of 488 women treated at two of the centres (Castle Street Hospital for Women and Kalubowila General Hospital) found real reach into a high-need population - 37% of patients were pregnant at the time of the violence, and 93% showed signs of depression - but also a stark follow-up gap: fewer than 5% of women returned for a second visit, and only two attended long-term follow-up. The model shows a health system can build fast, low-barrier crisis response at scale; sustaining survivors' care beyond the first visit remains the unresolved part of the design.

Read the full analysis: https://srilanka.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/National%20Guidelines%20Booklet.pdf