The government will next month launch the ambitious 'Happy Villages' project with the aim of empowering communities to eliminate poverty.

Ministry of Health, Nutrition, and Indigenous Medicine parallel to the President’s second anniversary celebration in office will implement the ‘Happy Village’ project.

The ‘Happy Villages’ are expected to be established through the support and the empowerment of the community. A series of programs to be implemented in 2017 covering the whole island will be inaugurated in Halkandawila village in Kalutara district on 8th January. A preliminary meeting in this regard was held yesterday at the Kalutara District Secretariat under the patronage of the private secretary to the Health Minister Mrs. Sujatha Senarathne.

Implementation of drug prevention programs and street dramas, rehabilitation of elderly and differently - abled persons, consultation programs to minimize suicides, non-communicable disease control programs, sanitary programs, and mobile health camps will be held under this initiative.