According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about 7 million people in Sri Lanka are in need of humanitarian assistance.
This is stated in the latest status report on the multidimensional crisis in Sri Lanka released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently (18). This report has been prepared with the data of many organizations such as World Food Program and UNICEF.
According to this report, 32% of families in the country are now food insecure.
It shows that approximately 2.3 million children in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance, including 56,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
According to the report, 68% of the families in Sri Lanka are currently resorting to food-based options such as eating less of their favorite foods, reducing the amount of food and reducing the amount of food types.
According to the World Food Program (WFP) Market Performance Index, frequent changes in commodity prices and unavailability of commodities in Sri Lanka have also affected it.
UN agencies, funds and programs and implementing partners have recently stepped up their interventions in the country.
The ‘Humanitarian Needs and Priorities Plan (HNP)’ has been extended until the end of this year for the implementation of those funding programs targeting the most vulnerable 3.4 million people out of the 7 million people in Sri Lanka who are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Aid has reached 1.2 million people so far, but the number of people needed is expected to accelerate in the coming weeks.
In November alone, WFP aims to distribute 7,398 metric tons of food to nearly 400,000 people in five districts.
In addition, approximately one million children will receive school meals for a period of three months through 7,900 schools across the island, according to the report.
UNICEF had said that Sri Lanka is among the ten countries with the highest number of malnourished children. And that number will increase further in the future, according to a report issued by the institute.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Food Programme’s Hunger Hotspots report from October 2022 to January 2023, Sri Lanka has been listed as a “place of high concern”.