Senehasata Abhiman | සෙනෙහසට අභිමන් 2022

MATERNITY CARE PACKS DONATION DRIVE

Project scope

Sri Lanka is an Island nation with a population of 22.3Million and 14.6 birth rate per 1,000 population converting to

an approximate figure of 315,000 pregnant mothers recorded island wide.

The World Bank (WB) in its Spring Update on the South Asian region said that the poverty rate in Sri Lanka would increase to 11.7 percent in 2022, compared to 10 percent in 2019.

Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948 – pushing food prices upwards of 90 percent and sparking fuel shortages – has disrupted livelihoods and key safety -net programs, deepening hunger and malnutrition.

Poverty Ranking – 25^th from Bottom from 125 countries

Poverty related statistics highlight that the prolonging of the pandemic and the disruptions that it has entailed are likely to have created a ‘new poor’ segment of the population who remain at the brink of poverty and are more prone to scarring in the wake of any further disruptions to economic activity stemming from COVID-19 or otherwise

Project assessment

The economic crisis has a direct co-relation with pregnant population and adding on to it is the hidden burden of adolescent pregnancies in rural Sri Lanka

Key Issues Identified

• High inflation rates impacting the lower medium and poor social fabric than rest
• Food safety and energy becomes key priorities including pregnant population
• Other health care and mental care goals are ignored
• Strain of economic burden taking a toll on mental health of Pregnant mothers their families and therefore having a direct impact on babies
• Economic woes leading into domestic abuse risking pregnant mother and baby mental health 

Data On adolescent pregnancies in rural Sri Lanka

• Baseline data on gestation was completed by 3,367 pregnant women.
• Of them, 254 (7.5%) were adolescent pregnancies.
• Among the primigravida mothers (n = 1037), 22.4% (n = 233) were adolescent pregnancies.
• Maternal and paternal low education level, being unmarried, and less time since marriage were statistically significant factors associated with adolescent pregnancies (p < 0.05).

Project objective

The objective of this project is to provide a maternity pack containing essentials to the mother and newborn baby right after the childbirth, for selected 500 pregnant mothers. Medium to long term to expand the no of mothers up to 1000.  In consideration of current economic environment of Sri Lanka and globally possibly having an impact on our donor base this project too will not be a time bound project instead targeted towards maximum reach.

Initial Phase

200 pregnant mothers primarily within Matale District

Medium Term

Expanding in to 5 provinces

Long Term

Making an Island wide project