At least 5.7 million people (26% of the population) in Sri Lanka require humanitarian assistance at the moment, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) says.
Without immediate humanitarian assistance and ‘upstream’ interventions to address the fragility of systems, services and facilities, this number will multiply and the consequences will deepen, the IFRC in its Needs Assessment Report for October 2022.
The IFRC said the Covid-19 pandemic and other external factors, a weakened tourism sector and a fiscal deficit resulted in the depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee. The government defaulted on debt payments in May 2022 and became unable to import necessities such as fuel, and inflation rates spiked, triggering a range of impacts, the IFRC added.
Due to the economic crisis, food security and livelihoods have suffered directly, the report pointed out, adding that access and availability of basic services such as education and healthcare including hospital maternity care and sexual & reproductive health services have also been disrupted.
Notably, in addition to the impact on education, child protection risks have also risen, the IFRC noted.
Meanwhile, a serious decline in domestic agricultural output brought on by an unsuccessful agricultural transition to organic farming has deepened the crisis, the IFRC added.
If the critically damaged systems, services and facilities (crucially, the agriculture and fishing, health and social care, and education sectors) are not urgently restored, those who are already vulnerable are likely to be pushed further down a pathway towards destitution, the IFRC stressed.
“Householders and families across the country are already employing negative coping strategies, such as reducing meals, postponing medical care, taking children out of school and employing children to provide income, and depleting and selling their assets. People are now more often becoming the victims or perpetrators of crime and theft, people are migrating in search of employment, human trafficking is said to have increased, and families are breaking up.”
The IFRC’s Needs Assessment offers insights into the humanitarian impacts of the crisis, primarily in the fields of food security and livelihoods, health and protection, and related areas at the community level, to help with strategic priorities, in line with the concerns of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (the Movement).
This assessment report includes an analysis and recommendations based on a face-to-face household-level survey of 2,871 respondents in 11 districts across nine provinces, a separate case study of 300 households from 10 estates in Nuwara Eliya, 24 focus group discussions (FGDs), 15 key informant interviews (KIIs), and an anticipatory analysis, framed by extensive secondary data.
The IFRC says that at the community and family level, the macroeconomic collapse in Sri Lanka has translated into a complex humanitarian emergency, as millions of people are increasingly suffering, with severe shortages of food, fuel, cooking gas, medicine and other essentials.
The assessment found that household purchasing power is constrained by food inflation and that disruptions to livelihoods and food insecurity have increased, raising worries about malnutrition.
The IFRC noted that people are suffering from poorer health because the healthcare system has become compromised. Household economic stresses have resulted in rising concerns over basic needs and protection for the most vulnerable (such as those already living below the poverty line, people with disability, and marginalised people).
According to the findings of the assessment;
• Ninety-six percent of households in the survey overall have been affected by the current crisis.
•The three main priority needs at the household level concern food, health and livelihoods.
• Other major priorities include psychological well-being and the education of children.
