Biscuits to feed malnourished children, not Tigers

The controversial high-nutrition biscuits, seized by the police last week as a consignment allegedly meant for the LTTE in the Wanni, is in fact an order requested by government officials to ward off a major malnutrition crisis in parts of the north.Official government documents, in the possession of The Sunday Times, clearly shows that it was requested by the Kilinochchi Regional Director of Health Services under a "nutrition rehabilitation programme going on at Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts with the help of UNICEF."

Severe malnutrition has affected children under five years of age, not only in the north but also in the east since last year. The documents say that approval for the transportation of this consignment of biscuits had already been given by the Commissioner-General of Essential Services and the Security Forces Headquarters, Wanni. The biscuits were seized on January 26 at Medawachchiya.

UNICEF in a detailed statement on Thursday also said the controversial biscuits were being supplied at the request of the government. The BP-100 biscuit is described as a highly nutritional baked wheat and oak bar, fortified with nutrients.

Severe malnourishment among very young children in internally displaced camps has seen a drastic drop in Batticaloa and also in Jaffna and these figures have been reviewed and commended both by the country's health authorities and also internationally, The Sunday Times learns.

There was severe malnourishment among 6% percent of the children who were in the camps in Batticaloa last year, which dropped to just 1% three months after the biscuit programme was initiated there, a well-informed source who declined to be identified said, adding that the programme was carried out by the regional health authorities with the support of the Health Ministry. UNICEF's involvement was in the form of training and technical assistance.

The biscuits which can be fed to children not only in biscuit-form but also mixed with water as a porridge was sent to Batticaloa in March 2007 as 360 children among the 9,600 children in IDP camps were found to be severely malnourished, the source said.Severely malnourished children are more prone to infection which in turn make them more vulnerable to death. This is one major factor that could make the infant mortality rate -- of which Sri Lanka is very proud at the moment as it is low -- shoot up, The Sunday Times understands.

Even in Jaffna, where the biscuit programme was not implemented as thoroughly because initially Kayts did not come under it, the malnourished figure of 3% was brought down to 2% within a short time, the source explained. The programme in the Wanni covering both the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts was also started in June 2007 but came to a halt as Defence Ministry approval could not be secured then.

At a high-level review meeting of the biscuit programme in August 2007 chaired by Health Ministry Secretary Dr. Athula Kahandaliyanage it had been established that the biscuits had reduced severe malnutrition substantially. With malnutrition among children in Kilinochchi being 3% and in Mullaitivu 2.5%, the regional health authorities had been keen to implement the biscuit programme there once again and that is why the biscuit consignment was on its way to the Wanni on January 26, when it was apprehended at a checkpoint.

Commissioner General of Essential Services S.B.Divaratne told The Sunday Times that this consignment had been imported by the UNICEF on the request of the Health Ministry to distribute among malnourished children in Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Batticaloa, Ampara and Anuradhapura.

He said when the police contacted him he had told them that he along with the the ministry of Nation Building had given approval.“The matter will be sorted out soon”, he said.

Meanwhile Kilinochchi DMO Dr. T.Sathiyamoorthy said this was not the first time these biscuits had been taken to the Wanni. Last year too a consignment had been taken there. He said though he submitted the relevant documents to the Medawachchiya police the consignment had not been released.