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.
More information
For more information about Save the Children or to make a donation call 0207 012 6400 or go to www.savethechildren.org.uk Interviews available in London and Sri Lanka on request. Please contact Phoebe Greenwood in the Save the Children UK
press office on +44 (0) 207 324 1719 for more information. A Save the Children press officer is available 24 hours a day on 0044 (0) 07831 650409.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Onlookers and police stand near the wreckage of a van after it collided with a goods train at Gumtala village near the northern Indian city of Jalandhar May 20, 2009. Three ...
