The report of the Select Committee of Parliament to look into whether the child malnutrition issue in Sri Lanka is aggravating and to identify short term, medium term, and long-term measures to be taken in that regard, as well as to oversee the speedy implementation of the identified measures was presented to Parliament by Member of Parliament – Rohini Kumari Wijerathna on behalf of the Select Committee Chair – Vadivel Suresh on Sep. 04.

The Report presents that child undernutrition can be presented in four forms such as stunting (low length/height for age), wasting (low weight for length/ height or low BMI for age), underweight (low weight for age) and, micro nutrient deficiencies/ insufficiencies – a lack/ inadequacy of important vitamins and minerals.

The Report further states that babies born with a birth weight of 2500 grams or less are considered to be low birth weight and according to the National Nutrition and Micronutrient Survey conducted in 2022, the prevalence of low birth weight in a nationally representative sample was 15.9%. The June 2023 Nutrition Month report identified an increase in underweight and stunting among infants and children up to two years of age compared to 2022. The most alarmingly high underweight rate of 24.6% was recorded in Nuwara Eliya district, where one in every four children was identified as moderately or severely underweight, the report said.

In June 2023, the proportion of children affected by poverty in Sri Lanka is 10%, according to this report. 1.2% of all children under the age of 5 are affected by severe acute malnutrition and numerically nearly 16,000 children suffer from such acute malnutrition.

The Nutrition Month 2023 report revealed a 10.3% increase in stunting among children under the age of five, an increase of 9.2% from the previous year. The report has revealed that the causes of chronic malnutrition, which are short or short in height compared to children of the same age, occur over time. Meanwhile, according to the survey conducted in 2022, a nationally representative sample of children aged 5-18 years found that shortness, overweight and obesity increase with age.

The report has shown that lack of food security at the household level has also contributed to malnutrition. Due to the economic crisis in the year 2022, 98% of the entire population has been affected by the increase in food prices, and as a result, 74% of the households could not afford to buy food or daily essentials in the last six months of that year, according to the report. The number of food insecure households increased to 24% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to 17% in March 2023. A third of all families have reduced the frequency of cooking or limited their consumption and a quarter live on food from neighbors.

The report provides conclusions and recommendations for improving child nutrition. It emphasized the importance of immediate attention to children before they become chronically malnourished. The report also emphasized the need for adequately skilled field health staff to provide quality Maternal and Child Nutrition (MCN) services for Maternal and Child Health (MCH) programs. The report also emphasized that vitamin A supplementation should be considered again before this becomes a problem again, as vitamin A supplementation has been discontinued for school children. The need for urgent action to improve the food security status of families with children under the age of five has also been highlighted.

The report also recommends using existing health management information systems to identify focal areas of malnutrition in children and to map risk to address malnutrition in order to identify the most vulnerable families and causal factors.

A number of short, medium and long-term recommendations have been presented in this report, including uninterrupted supply of nutritional supplements to pregnant mothers and malnourished children, control of prices of those ingredients to ensure affordable availability of ingredients for a healthy and low-cost diet, the implementation and monitoring of pre-school feeding program, school feeding program and school canteen guidelines to provide quality food.

Eight persons, including six policemen, have sustained injuries due to firecrackers set alight by supporters of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Presidential candidate MP Sajith Premadasa for his election rally in Kandy.

The injured individuals have been admitted to the Kandy Hospital. 

The six policemen were on duty when the incident happened.

The Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka says that they, in coordination with Sri Lankan Missions in Myanmar and Thailand successfully facilitated the repatriation of 20 Sri Lankans who had been victims of human trafficking to Myanmar. They arrived safely in Colombo on September 05.

The MFA statement further notes :

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with Sri Lankan Missions in Myanmar and Thailand successfully facilitated the repatriation of 20 Sri Lankans who had been victims of human trafficking to Myanmar. They arrived safely in Colombo on September 05, 2024.

Following the Ministry’s persistent efforts, these Sri Lankans were rescued and evacuated from Myanmar on August 14, 2024, with close collaboration and support from law enforcement authorities in both Myanmar and Thailand.

Officials from the Sri Lankan Embassy in Bangkok met with the rescued Sri Lankans on August 15, 2024, in Mae Sot, a border city in Thailand near Myanmar, to ensure their safety and well-being during their stay in Thailand. The Thai government provided them with food, shelter, and other essentials until the repatriation formalities were completed. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) supported the repatriation by providing air tickets and transportation. Mr.Kanchana Bandara, Director of Consular Affairs Division, received the group of 20 Sri Lankans at Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, on September 05, 2024.

The Consular Affairs Division of the Ministry, in collaboration with Sri Lankan Missions in Yangon and Bangkok and other relevant stakeholders, coordinated the rescue and repatriation of the Sri Lankans.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been informed that 35 Sri Lankans remain trapped in the Myawaddy area of Myanmar. The Ministry is persistently working with relevant authorities to ensure their early rescue and repatriation.

The Ministry strongly urges the public not to fall victim to human trafficking syndicates when seeking employment abroad. The Ministry advises Sri Lankans to strictly adhere to the government-approved procedures for securing foreign employment and avoid unauthorized channels.