To describe the current situation of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Sri Lanka, and to
propose possible interventions to prevent IPV, we performed a literature survey for articles and reports on IPV in Sri Lanka. Our results suggested that prevalence of IPV is high (40%) in Sri Lanka. Most of the IPV studies were conducted in health care institutions
and missed IPV victims who had not attended a health care institution. A common belief
in Sri Lanka, even among medical students and police officers is that IPV is a personal
matter that outsiders should not intervene. The laws against IPV identify the physical
and psychological IPV, but not the sexual IPV. To improve this situation of IPV in Sri
Lanka, we recommend IPV education programs for medical students and police officers,
community awareness programs on IPV, and amending the laws to identify sexual IPV. We
also recommend well designed community based research on IPV.