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HIGHLIGHTS
- An acute economic crisis since early 2022 has caused severe food insecurity in Sri Lanka, and the situation is predicted to deteriorate between October 2022 and February 2023. An estimated 6.2 million people (28 per cent of the population) are moderately acute food insecure, while 66,000 people are severely acute food insecure. Two in five households (41.8 per cent) spend more than 75 per cent of their expenditures on purchasing food, leaving little to spend on health and education. Many families have exhausted their savings and are struggling due to crippling inflation.
- UNICEF will prioritize access to basic social services to reduce the need for vulnerable families to resort to negative coping strategies. UNICEF will address humanitarian needs through existing systems, where possible, and incorporate community-based approaches where relevant.
- UNICEF requires US$28.3 million to meet critical needs linked to nutrition, social protection and humanitarian cash transfers, education and child protection among the most vulnerable children and families affected by the economic crisis.
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION AND NEEDS
Sri Lanka is in the middle of an acute economic crisis that is expected to continue throughout 2023, with an estimated 6.2 million people, including 2.9 million children, in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in 2023. In a context of soaring inflation, heightened income insecurity and scarce availability of essential products (e.g., food, fuel, fertilizers and medicines), families are unable to meet their basic needs. Throughout 2022, recurring and frequent natural hazards continued to affect the agriculture sector, contributing to low yields. With the forecast 40 per cent reduction in food production compared with previous years, food insecurity could further deteriorate from October 2022 to February 2023. While 5.3 million people were already skipping meals as a coping strategy, this number is expected to increase drastically in the coming months with the combined impact of climate-induced natural hazards and a political impasse.
From an already alarming nutrition situation in the country, particularly 'very high' wasting, according to World Health Organization thresholds, the child malnutrition level is projected to worsen in the coming months. Provision of safe drinking water, particularly in water-scarce rural and estate areas, is hampered due to lack of funding for operation, maintenance and importation of water treatment chemicals. If the situation is not addressed urgently, children will be at a significant risk of waterborne diseases. Essential health services have been severely affected by critical shortages of medicines, affecting pregnant and lactating women and children.
Schools remained closed for most of 2022 until mid-August amid a worsening fuel shortage, and this disrupted learning for 4.8 million children and increased mental health and psychosocial issues. School attendance is frequently low among students and teachers, particularly those in rural schools, due to transportation issues, economic challenges and limited provision of school meals, which discourages school attendance. Child protection issues increased significantly in 2022, especially in rural and estate areas. Children face protection challenges, with more parents seeking to admit them to childcare institutions due to increasing food insecurity, poverty and internal and external labour migration.
Sri Lanka’s social protection system, characterized by high levels of fragmentation, weak coordination, low coverage and large exclusion errors and limited adequacy of benefits, is not yet prepared to respond to a shock of this magnitude and to provide reliable protection to all vulnerable groups and prevent negative coping strategies. Without urgent and robust humanitarian support, the current crisis will have progressive, long-lasting consequences for all children.