More than one-fifth of school children in the country are suffering from malnutrition, said the Secretary to the Ministry of Health, Specialist Dr. Anil Jasinghe. He said this while participating in a media briefing held at the Health Promotion Bureau in conjunction with the National Nutrition Month.
He further said,
“According to this survey, when we take children under 5 years of age and children over 5 years of age, our malnutrition, stunting is 10.1%. Wasting is 8.1%. Underweight is 16.1%. Overweight is a very small level of 0.5%. This shows that about one-fifth of our children are suffering from malnutrition.
In such a country, children become obese when they grow up and reach young and middle age. Malnutrition in childhood translates into obesity. Obesity becomes 15% of women and 6% of men in adults, while obesity is 47% of women and 30% of men.”