Malnutrition among children and women continues to be one of the major problems in Sri Lanka despite the food and nutritional intervention programs implemented since independence. The objectives of this study were to find out whether there is calorie malnutrition among the urban poor in Kandy and to find out the determinants of the intra-household allocation of calories. Calorie adequacy ratios of fathers, mothers and children were compared to find out whether there is calorie malnutrition among family members. Relative calorie allocation of individuals was regressed with socioeconomic variables to find the determinants of the intra-household calorie allocation. Primary data collected using a structured questionnaire from sixty households in the lower income group in urban Kandy was used for the analysis. Results show that there was a significant difference among calorie adequacy ratios of fathers, mothers and children. Fathers have the highest and children have the lowest mean calorie adequacy ratios. Regression results indicate that income of mother and family size have significant positive and negative impacts respectively on mother's relative calorie allocation. Results also show that there was an age and gender biased calorie allocation within the family. Income of mother had a negative effect on children's calorie allocation. Though expansion in employment opportunities could alleviate malnutrition among women, it may aggravate malnutrition among children.

Nutritional deficiencies among children and mothers in lower-income households in Sri Lanka continue to be a major obstacle to the country's social and economic development. This study investigates the factors affecting dietary caloric adequacy in Sri Lanka, paying special attention to maternal income. An econometric analysis was performed using a household data set collected from a sample of 183 low-income households in the urban, rural, and estate sectors. The results showed that on average, mothers and children in the sample did not consume adequate levels of calories according to the recommendations of the Medical Research Institute of Sri Lanka. The mother's income and educational status, the number of children and adults in the family, and the ages, sexes, and birth orders of the children significantly influenced household and individual caloric adequacy. Specifically, the mother's income had a significant positive effect on the total caloric intake (CI) and caloric adequacy ratio (CAR) of the household, mother, and children and a significant negative effect on the relative caloric allocation (RCA) of the children. The results imply that when maternal employment generates extra income, the CIs of all individuals increase, yet the allocation of calories to the children of the household is reduced. Thus, provision of employment opportunities for mothers, along with adequate child-care facilities and nutritional educational programs, is a possible strategy to improve caloric adequacy among low-income households in Sri Lanka.

The chemical composition of atmospheric deposition changes over time due to a variety of physical, chemical, and biological conditions. The objectives of this study were to use statistical methods to compare the composition of cations, anions, and water quality parameters of bulk deposition. Three sampling sites of 7 km apart in Kandy District in Sri Lanka were selected for the study: The Kandy City Center (KCC) site represented an urban environment located in a valley, the University of Peradeniya (UoP) site and the Polgolla sites represented a suburban environment. Bulk depositions were collected weekly over eight months (from 03.08.2018 to 27.03. 2019). The chemical analyses of anions (Cl-, NO3-, SO42-) and cations (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4+) in bulk depositions carried out using ion chromatography indicated that the volume-weighted mean (VWM) concentrations of cationic species in KCC, UoP, and Polgolla sites followed as, Na+> Ca2+> Cl-> K+> Mg2+> NH4+> SO42-> NO3-, Ca2+> Na+> Cl-> Mg2+> NH4+> SO42-> NO3-> K+, and Na+> Cl-> Ca2+> NH4+> K+> NO3-> SO42-> Mg2+ respectively. The VWA pH in KCC, UoP, and Polgolla sites were 6.93, 6.82, and 6.85, respectively, which are nearly neutral due to the neutralization effect. The VWA conductivity values of KCC, UoP, and Polgolla sites were 64.22 µS cm-1, 49.40 µS cm-1, and 42.66 µS cm-1, respectively. Average values of other water quality parameters (salinity, total dissolved solids, and hardness) were higher in the KCC site than those in the other two sites.