Sri Lankan health ministry rejects UNICEF report on child malnutrition

by Vennila
Sep 8, 2022

The latest report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on child malnutrition in Sri Lanka , has been rejected by Sri Lanka's health ministry. 

Speaking to the media yesterday at the Health Ministry, Health Ministry secretary Janaka Sri Chandraguptha say they are not satisfied with the data the UNICEF used to form the report. 

The Health ministry secretary also said the UNICEF report's claim that the malnutrition status of children has greatly increased according to long-term data is not valid. 

The Medical Research Institute's countrywide survey, which was completed at the end of 2021, revealed a 13.2% drop in the malnutrition status of Sri Lankan children below the age of five. 

The report ranked Sri Lanka 6th due to underweight children under five years of age. 

Sri Lanka is the second-most undernourished country in South Asia, according to George Larry Adje, Director of UNICEF's South Asian region, who recently travelled to the country, 

Adje attributes the diets of the people on the island to be severely impacted due to the increased cost of living that occurred as a result of the recent economic crisis in the country. 

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