A.T.P.L. Abeykoon

MPS (Cornell), M.S., Ph.D. (Michigan, Ann Arbor)

Senior Fellow, Institute for Health Policy (2006-date); Director, Population Division Ministry of Health, Government of Sri Lanka (Public Servant, 1968-2006); President of the Population Association of Sri Lanka (1998-2002); Secretary General of the Asian Population Association (2009-2010); Consultant to the Planning Commission, Government of Bangladesh (1989-1990); Consultant to the National Commission on Population and Family Planning, Government of Vietnam (1994); Consultant to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (1998,2002-2003,2007,2011); Member of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Programme Advisory Group for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand (2010-2011); Population Dynamics Expert, International Council on Management of Population Programmes, Maylaysia (2016-2017); Visiting Lecturer, Department of Demography for MA students (1977-2013), and at the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine for MSc and MD students (1991-2006), University of Colombo; Member, Board of Examiners - (MD Medical Administration), Post Graduate Institute of Medicine; External Examinar, for the promotion of senior lecturers to the Grade of Professor, Universities of Colombo and Sri Jayawardhanapura; Adjudicator for Ph.D. Thesis of candidates at Universities in Sri Lanka and abroad; Member, Editorial Board of the Asia-Pacific Population Journal; Represented the Government of Sri Lanka at many international meetings and conferences including the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo 1994; Member, Asia Pacific Pension Experts' Group 2012 to 2017; In March 2019, Dr. Abeykoon was awarded the Gold Medal by the Population Association of Sri Lanka for his outstanding scholarly contribution to the field of Demography and Population Studies.

Dr. Abeykoon had his secondary education at St. Benedict's College, Colombo where he was appointed the Head Prefect of the school in its Centenary Year, 1965.

Dr. Abeykoon comes from a family that has served in the Public Service of Sri Lanka for more than 200 years as shown below:
D.C.P. Abeykoon, Atapattu Muhandiram Colombo, 1804 - J.C.C. Abeykoon, Mudaliyar, Kalutara and Panadura Totamunes - John Abeykoon, Mudaliyar, Pasdun and Walallawiti Korales, 1893, Justice of Peace and Oriental Scholar - Theodore Abeykoon,Chief Inspector of Police, 1898 - Henry C. A. Abeykoon, Senior Statistician, Department of Census and Statistics, (Public Servant from 1936 to 1972) - Dr. A.T.P.L. Abeykoon, Retired from Public Service in 2006 (source: up to John Abeykoon is from "The Chieftains of Ceylon" by J.C. Van Sanden, 1936. The rest is living memory. The above list shows the line of direct descent from father to son). Dr Abeykoon's maternal great grandfather, Gate Mudaliyar Philip Perera of Salpiti Korale served in the 1901 Census of Population of Ceylon (source: Letter of appreciation from the Colonial Secretary's Office dated 12th December,1901).

The Chairman of the People's Bank, Dr. Gamini Fernando commenting on Dr. Abeykoon's professional contributions, has stated as follows: "Dr. A.T.P.L. Abeykoon, as an eminent demographer of Sri Lanka has made an immense contribution to the field of population and demography and exerted much influence in the State policy on reproductive health and population planning in his official capacity as Director, Population Division, Ministry of Health." (source:Economic Review, April/May 1999, People's Bank).

The following is the statement delivered at the felicitation ceremony on 24th March, 2019 to award the Gold Medal to Dr. Abeykoon by the Population Association of Sri Lanka:

"Dr. A.T.P.L. Abeykoon has been a researcher, lecturer, policy planner and director of population activities in Sri Lanka for a period of over 50 years. He was the President of the Population Association of Sri Lanka during 1999-2002. His first exposure to population studies was in the early 1970s at the International Institute for Population Studies in Bombay, India. Subsequently, he obtained his Masters degree in Population Studies from Cornell University, U.S.A. Dr. Abeykoon earned his Ph.D. in population planning from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. During his distinguished career as a public servant for nearly four decades, he represented the Government of Sri Lanka in many international conferences on population issues including the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD )in Cairo in 1994. As the Director of the Population Division of the Ministry of Health, he was the key architect of the 1998 Population and Reproductive Health Policy for Sri Lanka. Dr. Abeykoon has also served in a number of Technical Committees on demographic surveys and population data analysis. In his capacity as the Director of Population, he was the project coordinator of a number of UNFPA and World Bank funded population projects. Dr. Abeykoon has lectured in demography to post graduate students at the University of Colombo and to MSc and MD students at the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine. He is also an adjudicator for Ph.D. Thesis of candidates at the Universities of Sri Lanka and abroad.

Dr. Abeykoon is an internationally recognized Demographer. He was the Secretary General of the first Executive Council of the Asian Population Association. He was a Consultant to the Planning Commission of the Government of Bangladesh and Consultant to the Population and Family Planning Commission of the Government of Vietnam. He has also served as a short term consultant to the Population Division of UNESCAP on several occasions. He has served as a Member of the UNFPA Regional Programme Advisory Group. He was a member of the Editorial Boards of the Asia-Pacific Population Journal and the International Journal of MCH and AIDS. Dr. Abeykoon has more than 90 research publications to his credit which includes the "Handbook on Reproductive Health Indicators" for UN ESCAP, "Population and Manpower Resources of Sri Lanka" for NSF. His most recent publications are Population Ageing in Thailand" for ICOMP, and "Human Resources of Sri Lanka" for the National Science Foundation.

Since his retirement from the Public Service in 2006, Dr. Abeykoon has been working as a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Health Policy and has collaborated in a number of international research projects related to population and health.

Therefore, the Population Association of Sri Lanka is privileged to award the Gold Medal to Dr. A.T.P.L. Abeykoon for his outstanding scholarly contribution to the field of Demography and Population Studies".

Some of Dr. Abeykoon's publications are listed below: