The need for an effective response to malaria was recognised prior to independence in 1948. Organized malaria control activities commenced in 1911 with the establishment of the Anti Malaria Campaign in Kurunegala when Sri Lanka was still a British colony. Subsequently, several more units of the Anti Malaria Campaign were established in other highly malarious regions of the country. A major achievement was the dramatic reduction in the country wide malaria incidence after the introduction of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in 1946. In 1958, the Government of the newly independent Ceylon launched a malaria eradication programme, in keeping with the WHO recommendations at that time.