Malnourished pregnant women in urgent need of aid in Sri Lankan camps
At least a quarter of pregnant and breast-feeding women currently sheltering in government controlled camps in North East Sri Lanka are suffering acute malnourishment, Save the Children warns today.
Save the Children urges Sri Lankan authorities and the humanitarian community to make the well-being of these malnourished and traumatised mothers and children an urgent priority.
More than 50,000 civilians are expected to flood out of the conflict zone after weeks of being trapped, following the Sri Lanka government's declaration of the end of its military operation against the minority Tamil rebel group, the LTTE.
Mothers and children are the worst-affected - according to the Sri Lankan government's own figures. Those now arriving in the overcrowded camps in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Trincomalee have in some cases walked distances of up to 80 km. Many are wounded and most are traumatised. On arriving at the camps, at least 32 per cent of the children are malnourished, some having gone days without food.
Says Save the Children’s South & Central Asia Regional Director Dr. Balwant Singh, ‘The lives of children will be endangered if the health of mothers is not made a priority. Mothers and children have already suffered greatly after weeks of being trapped without adequate access to food, water and medical attention. We urgently need to step up our assistance to them."
The Sri Lankan government says more than 200,000 have been displaced by the conflict - half of which are children. Conditions within the camps are harsh - the demands for limited clean water supplies are increasing as more people arrive.
While Save the Children acknowledges the local authorities’ facilitate community cooking programmes within the camps, it emphasises that pregnant and breast-feeding women need extra provision - this is crucial not only to their own health but that of their children.
Save the Children, which has been working in Sri Lanka for more than 30 years, is currently helping 30,000 children and their families in the camps, distributing food, water, clothes, shelter and infant kits. Save the Children is supporting local authorities in providing temporary education facilities and 'child friendly spaces' encouraging children to play in safety within the camps.
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