(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Sri Lanka ranks first among 97 countries globally on breastfeeding rate according to a new survey conducted by the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) achieving first “Green” nation status in supporting breastfeeding women.
Sri Lanka’s rank is based on its performance on ten indicators of policies and programs the WBTi uses to color- code and rank countries. Sri Lanka has scored 91 out of 100 points and earned a green color code, which implies best level of performance.
In 2019, Sri Lanka scored green code in 7 out of 10 indicators, 2 are in blue and one in yellow. In an ascending order of performance WBTi color codes are Red, Yellow, Blue and Green.
The WBTi congratulating Sri Lanka said its status is the result of persistent efforts since 2005 to pursue improvements.
“Sri Lanka has demonstrated high level commitment towards health and nutrition of mothers and babies” Dr. Arun Gupta the global coordinator of WBTi said. “Not surprisingly, Sri Lanka ranks number one on the health and survival sub-index having taken effective steps in this direction.”
Experts at the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India in Delhi developed the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) and launched it worldwide. So far 120 countries have been involved in WBTi and 97 have completed assessments and reported.