The prevalence of childhood stunting due to malnutrition and food insecurity in South Africa continues to become more frequent.
Reports by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) revealed alarming findings, rating South Africa’s stunting level at 28,8%, translating to a 1,8% increase in seven years.
Seven years ago, the stunting level stood at 27% among children under the age of five in the country. The Child Gauge, flagship publication of the Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town (UCT), report stated that stunting was “a manifestation of chronic under-nutrition”.
South Africa’s stunting rate of 27,4% of children under the age of five is described as “discrepantly high” for an upper middle-income country. Surveys revealed there was little evidence that it had changed significantly over 20 years and estimated that the country would have 1,7 million stunted children in 2025, which is nearly twice as high as the 900 000 children target for the same year.
Child Gauge has strongly expressed the negative impact of stunting on children and further stressed a need to address food insecurity to address the growing level of stunting.
“Stunting in the first five years is more damaging than later in life, resulting in both an increased risk of severe infection as well as intellectual impairment – compromising children’s school performance and employment prospects, and increasing the risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes in adolescence and adulthood,” it stated.
The HSRC’s National Food and Nutrition Security Survey report launched on 21 October, further reveal that some 20 million South African households (63%) suffer food insecurity at various levels and that 17,5% of households are severely food insecure, 26,7% experience moderate food insecurity, and 19,3% are mildly food insecure.
The Shoprite retail group report indicate that South Africa’s food security dropped last year to its lowest level in more than a decade. It has published a food security index measuring the country’s performance since 2012, with the 2023 outcome being the worst of that period.
