Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, Executive Director of Sarvodaya told BBC Sandeshaya that there are about 30,000 to 35,000 children in Menik Farm.  “Many of them are suffering from diseases and some still suffer from injuries,” he added. He also said that 15-20 percent of these children are also suffering from chronic malnutrition and acute malnutrition, and that the majority of those children are suffering from malnutrition as a result of fleeing from place to place during the last stages of the war without having access to proper meals.

Dr Ariyaratne said that Health Ministry is working together with Sarvodaya, UNICEF and other organisers to handle the problem of malnutrition among ID children in Vavuniya camps. “It can, however, take a few weeks to few months for these children to recover,” he told BBC Sinhala Service. The children are currently well fed, he informed, but it will be difficult to cure them within a short period of time. He further added that the authorities are working to resolve the shortage of toilets.

“The international standard is for 20 people to use one toilet, but in Menik Farm about 70 people are sharing one toilet,” he said.  Nearly 250,000 to 300,000 IDPs are housed in refugee camps in Vavuniya. The majority of these IDPs have fled final battles between the Sri Lanka military and the LTTE in May. BBC Sinhala.