By Amantha Perera
COLOMBO, Jan 25, 2012 (IPS) - Experts agree that Sri Lanka's free pre and postnatal clinics across the island nation have helped bring infant mortality down to 15 per 1,000 live births and the under-five mortality rate to 21 per 1,000 live births.But, beneath that general picture of success lie pockets of vulnerability where poverty and lack of awareness are causing high levels of malnutrition in this country, classified as a middle-income country by the International Monetary Fund in 2010.
According to a November 2011 paper released by the Institute of Policy Studies, a semi-government research body, a fifth of children under the age of five suffer from malnourishment, as also every sixth newborn.
"This is a fairly high rate," Angela de Silva, lecturer at the Colombo University and a vice-president of the Nutrition Society of Sri Lanka, told IPS. She said the high rates of malnourishment were primarily "due to certain pockets with high levels of underweight." Full Story>>>
