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| Saturday, 6 March 2004 |
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Kuliyapitiya group correspondent Food and nutrition is fundamental for human survival, well-being growth and economic development. So it is a multi-sectoral, multi-disciplined and multi-faceted issue, said Director General of Health Services Dr. H. A. P. Kahandaliyanage. He made the key note address at the Food and Nutrition Symposium held by the Kuliyapitiya Campus of the Wayamba University. Fifteen final year students of the Applied Nutrition Faculty of the Wayamba University presented their research papers at this symposium. Dr. Kahandaliyanage said that the nutritional problems in Sri Lanka were triple burden - problems due to under nutrition and deficiency diseases, those due to over nutrition such as over weight and diabetes. The most important third problem was that caused by wrong food advertisements. It is a pity that in Sri Lanka malnutrition is found from womb to tomb. We should be ashamed of failing to feed the children inside the mother's womb. That is the starting point of the problem of low birth weight which is 14 per cent. 25 per cent of the children are stunted today as a result the potentials for growth of productivity and national output is restricted, he said. Around 20-25 per cent of the total population is suffering from iron deficiency anaema which results in inpaired mental and physical function. That position will eventually burden the health sector and the economy of the country, he said.Our household food security depends on seasonal fluctuation in food supply, quality of family diet, intra-household distribution of food, cultural beliefs and customs. Therefore an integral approach of all key sectors such as health, education, agriculture, environment, industrial and science and technology is needed to improve the nutritional status. Since there is a communication gap in different levels the message of correct nutrition values does not reach the masses, instead the present generation has absorbed the misleading advertisements that promotes the sale of food items. As a result our farmers sell nutritious cereals and consume flour, sell eggs and consume salmon and sell fresh milk and consume powdered milk. This situation highlights the necessity of public education and awareness on nutrition with the view of changing attitudes, wrong food habits and change the life' style. The graduates in nutrition will be an asset in this field.Vice-Chancellor of the Wayamba University Prof. V. Y. Kuruvita said that nutrition was a necessity for the general living. The research papers the undergraduates presented at the symposium were valuable and important. If they were published public media the nutrition knowledge would reach the common masses. So they would understand what is nutrition and the value of that. The Dean of the Faculty of Livestock, Fisheries and Nutrition in Wayamba University Prof. T. S. G. Fonseka, The Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science Dr. Renuka Silva, The Head of the Faculty of Applied Nutrition Dr. K. D. Priyantha and Senior Research Officer, Agro-Food Technology Division of Industrial Technology Institute Dr. Ms. Janaki Gunaratna also spoke. |
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