Nutrition for development

Over half of Sri Lanka’s population is female but despite a much-lauded public health system there remain critical gaps in providing adequate nutrition for them and giving the best start to children.

The progress on improving nutritional care of women in South Asia, including Sri Lanka, during and after pregnancy is slow, impacting their children’s survival, growth and development, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

UNICEF says in Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries women lack the nutritional care they need urgently, and nearly 32% of pregnant women in Sri Lanka are anaemic. Poor nutrition deprives women of their health and wellbeing. Over one-third of the world’s anaemic women live in South Asia, and no country is on track to meet the global nutrition target to reduce anaemia by 50% in women by 2025. In Sri Lanka, nearly 32% of pregnant women are anaemic. 

Pregnant and breastfeeding women need better nutrition to protect children from stunting and disease, and children who are born small due to poor maternal nutrition start life at a huge disadvantage. They are more likely to become wasted or stunted in early life, do less well at school, earn lower wages in adulthood and suffer diabetes and chronic heart diseases later in life. Evidence shows that maternal nutrition is strongly linked to child stunting, which affects 62 million children in the region.

Many adolescents and women also face serious obstacles in meeting their right to health and nutrition. Over 45% of women in Sri Lanka are overweight or obese - indicating a serious double burden of malnutrition within the adult population.

Gaps in national policies, programs and care services during pregnancy, combined with poverty and customary practices, mean that women fail to receive the nutritional care they need for a healthy pregnancy. In Sri Lanka, high levels of primary education should result in most women being aware of how to provide themselves with the correct nutrition but the evidence suggests otherwise.  

Essential nutrition services, including dietary counselling and iron-folic acid supplements, are reaching too few women during pregnancy. The underlying causes include the under-investment in maternal health services, the low prioritisation of nutrition services, and the low reach of care for pregnant women. Furthermore, there is poor understanding at all levels, from policymakers to families, of how maternal nutrition impacts the health, survival and development of women and the future generation of children.

Even if Sri Lanka manages to reduce its anaemic and overweight population, it will find that its health challenges will continue to grow as non-communicable diseases continue to expand with the country’s aging population. Policymakers need to find ways to balance specific nutrition requirements with larger economic goals and find better ways to use public funds to reach the areas that are being bypassed by the public healthcare system. 

A highly educated and healthy workforce is a fundamental need in Sri Lanka’s movement towards a middle-income country and this is not an aspect that can be overlooked if genuine sustainable development is to be achieved.