There’s no malnutrition in Lanka

The truth is furthest away from reality, when particular Sri Lankan government ministers speak on prevailing conditions of living in the country. Or, to give these personages the benefit of the doubt, it may be that they are so cut off from the reality in which our countrymen and women live, they take offence when the truth hits them in the eye.

To be generous, it may be that the minister living in the gilded comfort of his ministerial home, working from his air-conditioned office in Colombo and travelling to and fro in his air-conditioned limousine ‘far from the madding crowd’ (human activity and strife) has no idea of the reality or conditions operating in the country at large. 

And so it was, our minister of health, on September 7, he took umbrage at the UNICEF report on malnutrition among children in Sri Lanka. He told parliament the latest figures issued by HIS ministry showed clearly that there was clear progress with regard to malnutrition among children in the country!

The UNICEF document he said, was not a complete report. ‘It could not be accepted’ he thundered.
According to the UNICEF report  

• Families are skipping regular meals as staple foods become unaffordable. 
• Children are going to bed hungry, unsure of where their next meal would come from 
• Almost half of children in Sri Lanka already require some form of emergency assistance.
• There are already over 10,000 children in institutional care in Sri Lanka, mainly as a result of poverty.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), three in 10 Sri Lankans - 6.3 million people - are food insecure amid the country’s worst economic crisis. Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, children aged under five, and people with disabilities, are among the worst affected. WFP aims to reach 3.4 million people with food assistance.
In the face of food prices rising by around 90% to 94%, the WFP is presently distributing food vouchers via maternity clinics in the country. The vouchers can be exchanged for food items worth LKR 15,000.

Devika Kodituwakku, President of the Government Midwives’ Association, speaking to ‘Foreign policy’ said her organization had noticed a number of “worrying trends” - people without adequate nutrition across the country, which she said will become a “critical issue” in the future. 

Midwives play a crucial role in maternal and child healthcare, walking from house to house, seeking out families with pregnant women and young children, connecting them to clinics, advising them on how to ensure a safe pregnancy, providing dietary advice and measuring weight at regular intervals.

She added that for nearly 50 years, the governments provided a nutrient-rich cereal supplement called ‘Thriposha’ free to pregnant women, lactating women with infants under 6 months old, as well as underweight children between 6 months and 5-years-old. The nutrition programme aimed at “eliminating malnutrition” in the country. The programme also gave pregnant mothers the necessary vitamins, including iron tablets. But in recent months, the government has not provided Thriposha or iron tablets.

According to the UNICEF survey, since February or earlier, 91% of eligible households have not received Thriposha for malnourished children, 66% have not received Thriposha for pregnant and lactating mothers, and 94% have not received the iron supplement for malnourished children.

Despite the Health minister’s protestations, this is the reality we, who are in Sri Lanka face today.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warns, an estimated 6.3 million people in our country are facing moderate to severe acute food insecurity and this situation is expected to worsen if adequate life-saving assistance and livelihood support is not provided.

This situation is not caused by drought or climate change. It is pure incompetence on the part of our government - a combination of bad administrative decisions (the sudden ban on the use of agro-chemicals with no planned alternative in place) leading to two consecutive seasons of poor harvests, which led to a nearly 50% drop in production coupled and the reduced imports of food grains due to foreign exchange constraints following a failure to meet international debt repayments. 

The IMF has begun a process of debt restructuring to help us out. Russia has suggested it could do business with Sri Lanka, if authorities would accept its Mir bank card payments. As the Bank of Russia’s National Card Payment System (NSPK) is the responsible Mir authority and the proposition is solidly founded.

Neighbouring India, already engages with Russian business houses using Russian currency and Indian rupee for payments and purchases. As such there could be no opposition to making similar arrangements with Russia to ease our financial crisis.