Lab Rats

Laboratory testing at the National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP), De Saram Place, Maradana. Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund, in January 2022.

^{• 105mm • f/4 • 1/50 • ISO1600 • 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L courtesy Canon/Metropolitan}

COVID wasn’t the Only Disease #2

Dr WCJK Jayakody interviews an out patient from behind an anti-COVID barrier at the National STD/AIDS Control Programme, De Saram Place, Maradana. Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund, in January 2022.

^{• 24mm • f/4 • 1/125 • ISO1600 • Canon 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan}

^{• 50mm • f/1.4 • 1/320 • ISO200 • Canon 5DMkIV & EF 50/1.4, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan}

COVID wasn’t the Only Disease

A patient thrusts his arm through an anti-COVID screen for a blood test. STD Clinic, Mahamodara Hospital, Galle. Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund, in January 2022.

^{• 24mm • f/4 • 1/80 • ISO1600 • Canon 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan}

A History of Pain

Shelves of medical records and patient histories at the National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP), De Saram Place, Colombo. January 2022. A new digital system allows different departments to access and update all of this data on demand. Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund.*

^{*shot on a Canon EOS 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

Man in the Field

In a gutted ground floor flat in the Wekanda Housing Scheme, Buddhika Lakmal, a National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) outreach worker gets ready to conduct tests on heroin addicts for hepatitis C, syphilis, and other diseases contracted by sharing needles. Stewart Street, Slave Island. January 2022. Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund.*

^{*shot on a Canon EOS 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

Not Even the Gods can Prevent Dengue

A sign at the Sumana Saman Devalaya in Deraniyagala, warns devotees not to offer king coconut to the gods as the empty coconut shells eventually fill with rainwater and become breeding spots for dengue-carrying mosquitoes. Dengue viral fever has been somewhat of an epidemic in Sri Lanka in recent years. February 2016.

600D+EFS18-200/3.5-5.6@18mm,1/125,f/3.5,ISO100

Posted in belief, explorations, issues, journalism, life, street, urbanTagged 18-200mm, 600D, belief, blue, dengue, Deraniyagala, disease, illness, religion, shrine, sickness, signboard, Sinhalese script, Sri Lanka, Sumana Saman Devalaya, temple, travel, warning