Sri Lanka issued an urgent appeal on Monday to tackle rapidly spreading malnutrition among children as its economic crisis leaves nine out of 10 people dependent on state handouts.
The Ministry for Women and Child Affairs said they were seeking private donations to feed possibly several hundred thousand children wasted due to insufficient food.
The bankrupt state, grappling with Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence, was unable to sustain welfare.
“When the Covid pandemic was at its peak, the problem was bad, but now, with the economic crisis, the situation is far worse,” secretary Neil Bandara Hapuhinne told reporters in Colombo.
