Sri Lanka’s Future – Malnourished.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis has now increased to a point where people have to go without meals on  some days. This includes the young children of Sri Lanka, who are being deprived of the nutrition they  need at an early age.

In the status quo of Sri Lanka, it is estimated by the UN that 2.3 million children are in need of  healthcare and humanitarian assistance! How can we expect the future generation to be strong and  healthy when they are starving with no food! 

The Sri Lankan food harvest has already decreased by more than 30%, and it has been predicted to  further drop in the future by about 40% – 50%. Considering how agriculture is one of our main sources  of food, we can understand why people and children around the country have to go with only one meal  a day, maybe even no food at all! Furthermore, Sri Lanka’s economy is far from self-sufficiency. Our  reliance on imports from other countries also led to this lack of food, as we now have no foreign reserve exchanges to import essential food. 70% of households have reported that they are reducing their  consumption of food in order to save more for their family. We can see from this that people are being  ridden of their necessary food, leading to high malnourishment.  

People are also unable to afford some food, due to the high inflation rates. The Governor of the Central  Bank of Sri Lanka stated that food inflation is predicted to rise to 70% from 50% in a few months. This  signifies a huge change in the prices of food, putting the finances of families into dire states, as well as  risking their ability to eat 3 meals a day. 

Malnourishment in Sri Lanka was already high, at 1.0, in 2020! That is considerably high, taking into  account world standards, and it is growing higher day by day. Sri Lankan children are suffering the most  in this period of starvation. 56,000 children under the age of five are not being provided with the  necessary food for them to grow, leading to poorly built bodies and early deaths. 

Child malnourishment diseases in Sri Lanka are now deadly due to the lack of medicine in the country. It  has been confirmed that 25 life-saving medicines for children are facing a possible stockout in the  coming months. Kids who have a disease and must be rushed to the hospital might not be able to get  the medicines they need to be cured. This immediately puts the health of children at risk, so diseases  caused due to malnourishment are now deadly. 

The government has been suggesting solutions to curb this rising problem. Growing fruits and  vegetables in your backyard will save you from having to buy these from the market. Furthermore,  rather than buying small quantities of expensive fish, you can buy large quantities of low-price fish for  the same price, thus allowing you to eat more. However, many slum-dwellers and under-privileged  people are unable to do this because most of them don’t have gardens, and sometimes, they can’t even  afford to buy small quantities of cheap meat anyway. 

UNICEF has stated that it requires US$25.3 million to attend to the perils of the most vulnerable and  badly affected children and their families by ensuring continued access to essential services and support. Therefore, Sri Lanka’s only hope seems to be UNICEF and donations from other countries. 

There is one more possible short-term solution – helping each other out. As a humanitarian effort,  privileged Sri Lankans should make it their duty to provide small quantities of food to their surrounding  neighbours who are facing poverty and starvation. By rising together as one to help each other battle  this malnourishment, we can curb this problem and come out of dark times. 

Sri Lanka must try and curb this streak of starvation before our future generation becomes too  malnourished to make a brighter future. 

Yash Nanayakkara, 13 years old 

Asian International School