Food has been at the centre of Sri Lanka's economic crisis. Incomes are shrinking and food prices soaring. Families are forced to skip meals and go hungry.
Around a third of Sri Lankan households do not have a secure source of food and almost 70% are reducing meal sizes, according to the latest World Food Program figures.
"Effects of malnourishment takes time to show," according to one doctor. "Currently most underfed children are using the stored reserves in the body, but a continued nutrition insufficiency would have long-term impact."
UNICEF estimates approximately 56,000 children in the country are suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Recent data from the health ministry's family health bureau showed stunting, low height for age, wasting and low weight-for-height among children has gone up significantly in the last year.
Christian Skoog, Unicef's country representative in Sri Lanka, said: "The mothers are not as nourished or as well-fed as they were before. It was already an issue, and it has gotten worse. Low birth weight is a big issue in Sri Lanka because women do not get enough nutrition during pregnancy or during gestation."
"Most of these children, from primary grades, were coming to school without eating anything," according to Anoma Sriyangi Dharmawardhane, Vice Principal of Horawala Maha Vidyalaya in Mathugama in Southern Sri Lanka. "Daily, at least 20-25 children were fainting during school assembly three to four months ago".
The school started offering porridge and a midday meal programme with support of parents who volunteered to cook. It relies on donations to continue the program. Community kitchens and food handouts like these are helping to fill the gap in parts of Sri Lanka, but still many children are going hungry.
"At least 20% of children get no breakfast and go to school on an empty stomach," according to S Visvalingam, President of the Food First Information & Action Network (FIAN), Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka crisis: The children going hungry as food prices soar - BBC News
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