June - Nutrition Month

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has declared June as the `Nutrition Month’ under the direction of Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. This is aimed at upgrading the nutrition level of infants, children and mothers, a Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said.

He said Sri Lanka’s infant and maternal mortality rate is very low when comparing with the other countries of the world but the people’s interest in nutrition is very unsatisfactory. Due to this situation, people do not follow proper methods to preserve nutrition when preparing food.

They do not provide the required quantities of food to children at the right age and there are educational and cultural taboos too. These are the main reasons for malnutrition.

According to the spokesman, a technical report will be prepared in order to implement a National Nutrition Policy in Sri Lanka and various organisations and professionals including the UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA will contribute to formulate the technical report.

It is revealed that a significant percentage of Sri Lankan children bellow the age of five have been subjected to malnutrition and there is a possibility for them to develop high blood pressure, diabetes and similar non communicable diseases when they become adults, he said.

According to some findings 10 per cent of schoolchildren in urban areas are overweight while 57.6 per cent infants and 30 per cent of pregnant mothers suffer from anaemia. In addition, 13.5 per cent children below the age of five suffer from impermanent malnutrition while another 14 percent suffer from acute malnutrition.