According to the UN, children in Sri Lanka are “going to bed hungry” as a result of the island country’s economic problems, and other South Asian nations may soon experience similar shortages.
After running out of foreign money to pay for imports, leaving short supplies of food, fuel, and other necessities, Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst economic crisis on record.
According to George Laryea-Adjei, the South Asia head for the UN children’s agency, the crisis was being felt most keenly by families who were “skipping regular meals” because kitchen essentials had become out of reach (UNICEF).
He told reporters, “Children are going to bed hungry, not knowing where their next meal will come from.
Sri Lanka is now in bailout negotiations with the International Monetary Fund after defaulting on its $51 billion foreign debt in April.
Rising energy costs as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also have hurt neighbouring economies, and Laryea-Adjei warned that other nations in the area may experience their own food shortages.
“Children’s lives are poised to be further threatened by acute economic precarity and inflation throughout South Asia,” he warned.
“What I witnessed in Sri Lanka should serve as a warning for other South Asian nations.”
To provide for the immediate needs of at least half of Sri Lanka’s children, UNICEF has made an appeal for $25 million.
This month, the government made its own plea to stop the rapidly growing malnutrition among children.
According to official data from 2021, 127,000 of the country’s 570,000 preschoolers were underweight.
Since then, according to officials, the numbers have increased dramatically as a result of the full consequences of food shortages and skyrocketing inflation.
After tens of thousands of angry protestors stormed his official residence last month, ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the nation and announced his resignation.
