Food security is not just about having enough food; it’s about having nourishing food for children.
Image: Pixabay
THE death in early February of a 9-year-old South African boy, Alti Willard, who drank poison while scavenging for food in rubbish bins with his father, is a tragic reflection of the persistent food insecurity crisis in the country.
A child dying while trying to avert starvation is hard to comprehend, given the country’s economic and natural resources. South Africa has the capability to feed the entire nation. But it is grappling with a triple burden of malnutrition, comprising under-nutrition and hunger, micronutrient deficiencies, and unhealthy diets.
According to the most recent Food and Nutrition Security Survey, conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), food insecurity affects 63.5% of households in the country – 17.5% of them severely. Food insecurity is not just a matter of inadequate access to food. It is deeply intertwined with child malnutrition, meaning that food security is not just about having enough food; it’s about having nourishing food for children.
The link between household food insecurity and child malnutrition is stark. Among households with at least one child under the age of five suffering from stunting, food insecurity rates reach 83.3%.
One thousand children die each year due to preventable acute malnutrition. And 2.7 million children under six live in households where poverty levels prevent their basic nutritional needs from being met. Food poverty rates have worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. Food inflation has exacerbated the crisis.
The survey indicates that 28.8% of children under the age of five suffer from stunting, an indicator of chronic undernutrition. It means children are below the height expected for their age.
About 1,000 children die each year due to preventable acute malnutrition and 2.7 million children under six live in households where poverty levels prevent their basic nutritional needs from being met.
Image: Babu/Reuters
The South African Early Childhood Review 2024 reinforces these findings. This is an annual review of child development produced by the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town and Ilifa Labantwana, an early childhood development NGO. It highlights a rise in child malnutrition, particularly severe acute malnutrition. Between 2020 and 2023, these cases increased by 33%, with 15,000 children requiring hospitalisation in 2022/23 alone.
Based on Julian May and Thokozani Simelane’s extensive research experience, policy advice and activism in food security, they argue that food insecurity transcends mere food supply issues. It is deeply intertwined with systemic inequality, food system dynamics, poverty and failures in policy.
Tackling these crises will need a profound change in the approach to food and nutrition security. It requires a shift from temporary relief measures such as the social relief of distress grant to sustainable, structural solutions that lower the cost of a healthy food basket. That would mean no child would have to search for sustenance in refuse bins.
South Africa has the highest number of people who rely on social grants. Some of these are aimed at addressing food insecurity and nutrition, particularly among children. Despite these safety nets, food insecurity persists, suggesting that they are either inadequately resourced or poorly targeted.
The grants include:
Enrolling eligible infants from birth requires better coordination between government departments. However, due to the size of the grant relative to the cost of ensuring child nutrition, and competing demands on the grant from other household needs such as housing and clothing, the grants are not enough to alleviate food insecurity.
The HSRC and South Africa Early Childhood Review 2024 highlight the urgent need for comprehensive, multi-sectoral solutions:
For example, poverty negatively affects caregivers’ mental health, which in turn affects child nutrition. Caregivers experiencing food insecurity have higher levels of depression and hopelessness. This potentially affects their capacity to provide the care and attention that children require. Expanding income support and community health services to caregivers can mitigate this cycle.
Disabled children and caregivers are another example. They face additional challenges and must be specifically targeted for tailored support.
Finally, children of seasonal farmworkers are highly vulnerable when their caregivers are without employment and not receiving unemployment insurance fund payments. Immediate food relief can prevent fluctuations in the quality and quantity of their diets.
May is Director DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security, University of the Western Cape and Simelane is a Professor of Practice, Human Sciences Research Council.
This article first appeared in The Conversation