A recent study published by the prestigious British Lancet medical journal has shed light on the concerning issue of malnutrition among school-age girls in Sri Lanka. According to the research findings, a staggering 410,000 girls aged 5-19 in Sri Lanka are underweight for their age.
Chairman Dr. Chamal Sanjeeva, who spearheaded the research, emphasized that this figure represents a significant portion of the population, accounting for 16.4 percent of school-age girls in the country. Shockingly, Sri Lanka ranks second only to India in terms of the percentage of underweight female children globally.
Furthermore, the research revealed that the prevalence of underweight male children in Sri Lanka stands at 17.8 percent, indicating a widespread issue of malnutrition affecting both genders. Dr. Chamal Sanjeeva, an expert in the field, highlighted that approximately 450,000 male children are grappling with nutritional crises, with a total of 860,000 schoolchildren in Sri Lanka falling below the healthy weight range for their age.
Dr. Chamal Sanjeeva emphasized that Sri Lanka is among the countries with the highest rates of malnutrition globally, particularly in terms of weight loss among children. The study, conducted with the collaboration of 1,900 researchers and analyzing data from 199 countries worldwide, primarily utilized body mass index (BMI) or weight-for-height as a key criterion to assess nutritional status.
