The paper describes how the Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases (ACCD) in Sri Lanka
addresses new challenges by ensuring participatory, collective and transparent decision-making through
a broad representation of stakeholders. The Committee, which is more than 40 years old, differs from
many other national immunization advisory committees, since it has a broad mandate to deal with all
communicable diseases, including those for which there are no vaccines, and addresses such areas as
disease surveillance and health system improvements, in addition to vaccination-related issues. The
Committee has 38 members. Unlike in some countries, ACCD recommendations are legally binding for
all public sector health providers. The paper provides several examples of recent recommendations and
factors that influenced the Committee’s decision-making, and concludes with ways the Committee can
be improved.