World Food Programme: 50 years in Sri Lanka
WFP and partners celebrate World Food Day with an important message on nutrition and diet
This year, the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) jointly celebrated World Food Day — 16 October — with an event that placed ending malnutrition and ensuring food security and healthy diets for all centre stage.
Among the audience were around 100 students and teachers, as well as representatives from the Government of Sri Lanka, UN agencies, the private sector, and development organizations. Sri Lanka cricket captain and ICC Elite Panel Referee Roshan Mahanama was there too.
During the event, two winners of the WFP Children’s Design Competition 2019, Aloka Gunasingha and Sanjana Lahiruni Gunathilaka, received their awards. They are among the 27 winning artists of this global event. (This year, schoolchildren around the world were asked to illustrate, “Why is having a meal at school important to you?”)
Aloka, 19, says her artwork illustrates the importance of eating a nutritious meal in the morning — it helps children participate in sports and with their studies. She wants to tell people that a healthy diet is key to raising an active and bright child.
Sanjana, 18, explains that her artwork is about how taking a healthy school meal on time can provide nutrition for growing bodies. She wants to show how eating a good morning meal can help put children on the right track to bright and healthy futures.
Despite rapid economic progress, Sri Lanka is still facing a triple burden of malnutrition, with stagnant rates of undernutrition combined with growing overweight/obesity.
In the recent years, the prevalence of undernutrition in young children has remained more or less the same, with stunting at 17 percent and wasting at 15 percent. Overweight/obesity, however, has increased among both children and adults. For example, 45 percent of women of reproductive age are either overweight or obese.
With the World Food Day celebration, and through the active participation of children and young people like Aloka and Sanjana, WFP hopes to create national awareness in Sri Lanka, especially among the younger generation, about the importance of proper nutrition and good eating habits.
