Sylvia Fernando

Sri Lankan educator and family planning advocate
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroSri Lankan educator and family planning advocate
PlacesSri Lanka
wasEducator
Work fieldAcademia
Gender
Female
Birth1904, Colombo, Colombo District, Western Province, Sri Lanka
Death1983 (aged 79 years)
The details

Biography

Sylvia Fernando (1904–1983) was a Sri Lankan educator and family planning advocate. She co-founded the Family Planning Association of Ceylon in 1953.

Sylvia Fernando was born to an elite family in Colombo, Ceylon in 1904. Her mother was a social worker and her father was an obstetrician and gynaecologist.

Fernando was a lead member of the All Ceylon Women's Conference.

Fernando met Swedish women's rights activist Elise Ottesen-Jensen in 1948. In 1954 they found an ally in Swedish ambassador Alva Myrdal and lobbied their governments to try a family planning project. In May 1958, Sweden agreed to provide $80,000 to distribute contraceptives in two communities in Ceylon.

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