The sustainable policy response to the growing consumption of junk food among children was discussed in a virtual media roundtable hosted by global public health organization Vital Strategies featuring mayors and experts from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines on Wednesday.

In Sri Lanka’s largest city and economic hub Colombo, the city administration recently launched a new municipal-wide healthy school canteen policy that aims to improve nutrition and combat rising childhood obesity.

Around 80 schools are currently equipped with canteens registered under the policy, according to Colombo Mayor Vraîe Cally Balthazaar. She went on to say the policy also restricts canteen operators from preparing any unhealthy foods, replacing them with what she described as “cool meals” for children.

“[But] pushing the kids to think of really ‘cool meals’ that they can have that are in fact healthy is a challenge itself,” Balthazaar said.

The initiative comes as Sri Lanka, like its Global South peers, is battling with a relatively high rate of malnutrition.

Obesity remains a challenge in the South Asian country. A 2025 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) found that the proportion of overweight children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 in the country at least tripled between 2000 and 2022. A similar figure was also observed in Indonesia, while a rising trend was reported in the Philippines. 

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