Malnourishment which is widespread among children of low-income families in the country is also known to contribute towards poor mental development and school attendance. To target this problem a series of nutrition programmes have been undertaken since September 2003 under the auspices of the Sanasili Foundation. Programmes undertaken since then include a regular distribution of free milk packets at several schools in the Colombo South area. Distribution programmes have been implemented on Sundays, as well to encourage daham pasal and Sunday school attendance. Some of the distribution centres include Vimalaramaya, St. Joseph the Worker’s Church, Ratmalana, Lankadara Children’s Home in Wellawatte, and Sri Siddhartharamaya. Sanasili also undertakes special projects for meal distribution on a case to case basis.

In addition, nutrition programmes for pregnant mothers have also been undertaken. One past project included the distribution of the highly nutritious herbal/rice porridge, kola kenda, once a week to pregnant mothers at the Municipal Maternity Clinics in Chitra Lane, Wellawatte and Nihal De Silva Mawatha. The modalities for a new project to distribute milk packets to pregnant in hospitals in Kirula and Nihal de Silva Mawatha are currently being investigated. However, funding is the major problem, since these programmes rely heavily on private donations. All programmes are run by volunteers.