South Africa is food secure as a nation and produces food for export, but horrific statistics of hunger and malnutrition illustrate the often dire situation in the country’s poorest households.
Close to a thousand children had died of severe acute malnutrition in South African state hospitals over the past 18 months, according to the Director-General of the National Department of Health, Dr Sandile Buthelezi.
The Daily Maverick reported that Buthelezi gave these statistics to a hearing by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in East London. The hearing had been called to discuss what was described as the slow pace of implementing recommendations by the commission to address hunger in the Eastern Cape.
The commission subpoenaed several government departments to report back on what they had done to implement the recommendations of a report, issued in 2023, finding that child hunger in the Eastern Cape should be declared a state of disaster.
Buthelezi said health department records showed that 973 children who had severe acute malnutrition had died in facilities around the country. The figures excluded children dying at home or in private hospitals.
“We are only seeing them when they are already dying,” he said.
The three provinces in the country with the highest numbers of deaths caused by malnutrition were KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape. The Western Cape’s numbers were the lowest, with 13 deaths in 18 months.
“Child deaths linked to malnutrition in South Africa are deeply rooted in socioeconomic inequalities that persist across communities, particularly in rural and township areas. Many households face chronic food insecurity, lacking regular access to safe, sufficient and nutritious meals.
“This is compounded by high poverty rates, unemployment, structural issues such as substandard housing, environmental hazards and lack of access to basic services such as water, sanitation, education and health,” Buthelezi said.
“The current economic situation in the country, with poor economic growth, job losses and reduced household income intensify these challenges, forcing families to choose between nutritious food and other essential expenses like rent or electricity.”
Buthelezi added that the Health Department backed calls for the child support grant to be raised above the food poverty level, as well as a nutrition grant for pregnant women.
He said the child stunting rate in the Eastern Cape was now at 33.3% (the national average is 28.8%). Stunting results from chronic malnutrition.
Data provided by the national Department of Health stated that in the majority of cases, severely malnourished children died from other causes, including sepsis, acute diarrhoea, shock, tuberculosis, meningitis, cardiac failure, heart failure, acute gastroenteritis, pneumonia and liver failure.
The Head of the Eastern Cape Department of Health, Dr Rolene Wagner, said there was a glimmer of hope as they were seeing a drop in malnutrition deaths, but they needed more data to see if this would be a trend. She said they were prioritising their outreach to find children before they were admitted to hospital.
Stunting holds back South Africa’s children
The rising rate of child stunting, in the Eastern Cape and possibly in other provinces, indicates rising rates of severe malnutrition.
The national rate of 28.8% of children under five was reported in a survey last year by the Human Sciences Research Council. This was an increase from the 27% found by the South Africa Child Guage 2020 report on child nutrition.
These surveys show that between a quarter and a third of South Africa’s children – the next generation of parents, workers and leaders – have their potential reduced because of malnutrition at an early age.
Stunting affects these children for the rest of their lives, physically and often mentally.
