Malnutrition not only about health but economic development and growth, says PMBEJD

Malnutrition and in particular “child stunting” have a severe socioeconomic impact in South Africa, says Mervyn Abrahams, a programme co-ordinator from Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group (PMBEJD). 

Health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi revealed recently that more than 1,000 children had died of severe acute malnutrition in the past two years in South Africa.

Motsoaledi was responding to a written parliamentary question from DA spokesperson for health Michele Clarke about the number of children who have died in public health facilities in each province since January 2023 to date. 

According to Motsoaledi, data from the District Health Information System showed KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and Gauteng are the worst affected provinces.

“If you look for instance at child stunting, the figure is in the region of 25%. Stunting affects the cognitive ability of children and so through no fault of their own those children will not do as well in school. Those children will need health care much more than healthy children,” said Abrahams.

He said when those children enter the labour force at the age of 21/22 are more they likely to start as labourers and this affects their ability to work in a fast-paced economy that is constantly changing.

“Malnutrition is not only about health. It is about economic development and economic growth. Its outcome is lower educational output, lower economic development and lower economic productivity.

“This is how South Africa is paying for not allowing access to [food] because of low wages and low social grants.”

South Africa needed to address child malnutrition and stunting as economic, health and human dignity imperatives, Abrahams said.

South Africa had a major problem when it came to household food insecurity considering that the country was food-secure and there was enough to export, he added.

“It is a great shame that about 24% of child deaths in 2019 had as a factor severe malnutrition. We also see that almost 25% of our children under the age of five are stunted.”

The main issue was access to food in a country where food prices were extremely expensive while wages and social grants were very low, he said.

Abrahams said one of the problems with accessing food was that the majority of South Africans were net food buyers.

“We access our food through the store so the price of the food vs the level of income will determine how much food a household can reasonably access as well as the nutritional level and quality of that food.”

According to their PMBEJD household affordability index for November, a basket of food for a household of seven cost R5,361.

“When we look for instance at those children living off child support grants, the child support grant, for instance, reaches 13.2-million children, stands at the moment at R530, while our research shows that at least R966.46 is needed to feed a child sufficient and nutritious meals.

“What this means is that the child support grant is 33% below the food poverty line of R796, it is 45% below the average cost to secure a basic nutritious diet.”

Access to food is an economic issue and food prices are just way too expensive while household incomes are too small for households to be able to afford to buy nutritious and sufficient food, he said.

“At the heart of the problem is access and that is an economic issue.”

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