Maldives

Maldives is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, off the southern tip of the India. It is a chain of 1190 small coral islands groups into atolls, with a total land area of 298 km2 (115 mi2. About 200 of these islands are inhabited; 80 of them are home to tourist resorts. The highest point in Maldives is just 2.4 meters above sea level, making them vulnerable to sea level rise. The capital city of Male is surrounded by a high seawall nicknamed “the Great Wall of Male,” but with global warming expected to cause a further rise in the water level, many of the islands may not be able to survive inundation.

In December 2004, the Maldives were hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia. [Page 1057]Although loss of life was minimal, only 9 of the islands escaped flooding and thousands were displaced. The widespread destruction of infrastructure has disrupted tourism, the backbone of island economy, and deepened the poverty of many Maldavians.

Total population of the Maldives in 369,000, with annual population growth estimated at 2.73 percent. Population growth is putting pressure on the nation's limited natural resources, and the government has been attempting to slow the rate of increase for more than a decade. In the early 1990s, the fertility rate was 5.4 children per woman; today it is 2.8 children. Child mortality has also dropped significantly since the 1990s, and is today at 33 deaths per 1000 live births for infants under age 1 and 42 deaths per 1000 for children under 5. Life expectancy is 63.4 for males and 66.2 for females.

Poor nutrition is an ongoing problem for the Maldives. With little agricultural land avaliable on the islands, rice and fish are the the dietary staples, with most other food imported from abroad. These imports are usually laden with sugar or sodium, and little by way of fresh fruits, vegetables and other greens make it to the markets.

With a poverty rate of around 20 percent, most Maldavians have a hard time meeting their nutritional needs. UNICEF says the Maldives has one of the worst nutritional profiles in South Asia, with 30 percent of children on the islands suffering from malnutrition and 25 percent showing signs of stunting. Among adults, poor diet is being seen in increasing rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.

Drug abuse has emerged as an issue within the Maldives, particularly among the large adolescent population. Heroin is most popular, along with marijuana and prescription drugs, but there are also dangerous local concoctions like “cola water,” mixing eau de cologne with soft drinks or coconut juice; or Dunlop, a type of glue, which is sometimes mixed with coconut and smoked. Impure heroin is sometimes mixed with sawdust or dried human bones to increase the quality.

In 1997, the government instituted the Narcotic Control Board to deal with all aspects of substance abuse, from coordinating education programs to building cooperative strategies with international agencies to stop the flow of drugs into the islands. However, drug abuse seems to be on the increase since the the 2004 tsunami, which closed up many treatment and education programs.

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