A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, May 10, 2018
Nearly 32 percent of pregnant women are anaemic in Sri Lanka
Across South Asia, women lack the nutritional care they urgently need
Pregnant and breastfeeding women need better nutrition to protect children from stunting and disease
( May 9, 2018, Kathmandu – Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The
progress on improving nutritional care of women in South Asia during
and after pregnancy is slow, impacting on their children’s survival,
growth and development.
A three-day regional conference on actions to accelerate improvements in
women’s nutrition across South Asia is being held in Kathmandu this
week. Organised jointly by the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the
conference is bringing together government representatives, UN partners
and civil society organizations from all countries in South Asia, with
regional and global experts.
Poor nutrition deprives women of their health and well-being. 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 per cent women by 2025. In Sri Lanka, nearly 32 per cent
of pregnant women are anaemic.
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 effects 62 million children in the region.
Many adolescents and women also face serious obstacles in meeting their
right to health and nutrition. Over 45 per cent of women in Sri Lanka
are overweight or obese – indicating a serious double burden of
malnutrition within the adult population.
“Gaps in national policies, programmes 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,” said Jean Gough, Regional Director for UNICEF in South Asia.
Essential nutrition services, including dietary counselling and
iron-folic acid supplements, are reaching too few women during
pregnancy. Underlying causes include the under-investment in maternal
health services, the low prioritization of nutrition services, and the
low reach of care for pregnant women. Furthermore, there is poor
understanding at all levels, from policy makers to families, of how
maternal nutrition impacts on the health, survival and development of
women and the future generation of children.
Delegates will agree upon a set of key recommendations at the end of the
conference to transform maternal nutrition. “Women’s nutrition needs
special attention. Governments need to look at how we can provide
healthy diet and lifestyle options. We must strive towards a collective
effort that involves health providers, community based workers,
families, schools and mothers themselves, “said Amjad Hussain Sial,
Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC).