COLOMBO: Sri Lanka released an urgent appeal on Monday (Aug 1) to tackle rapidly spreading malnutrition among children as the economic crisis leaves nine out of 10 individuals dependent on state handouts.
The Ministry for Women plus Child Affairs mentioned they were seeking personal donations to give food to possibly several hundred thousand children wasting due to insufficient foods.
The broke state, grappling along with Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence, was unable to sustain welfare.
“When the COVID-19 outbreak was at its peak, the problem was bad, but now, with the economic crisis, the situation is definitely far worse, inch secretary Neil Bandara Hapuhinne told reporters in Colombo.
Hapuhinne said they had counted 127, 500 malnourished children among the 570, 000 kids below the age of 5 in mid-2021.
Since then, he estimated the numbers have got increased several collapse with the full impact of rampant pumpiing and dire shortages of food and other essentials.
This individual said the number of people receiving direct condition handouts has almost doubled in the past calendar year with over 90 per cent of the population now relying on the government for financial help.