A 2024 Unicef report found that 23% of South African children experience severe food poverty, eating less than two of the recommended five food groups per day. Unemployment, food insecurity, limited access to basic services and a lack of knowledge about nutrition all contribute to this. The lead researcher of this multidisciplinary study, Leila Patel, and collaborating researchers Matshidiso Sello and Sadiyya Haffejee suggest ways to tackle this dire situation.
What’s in place to protect children from poverty?
Since a call for prioritising the needs of children was adopted by the Mandela government in 1994, much progress has been made in expanding access to education, to immunisations, other primary healthcare services and social grants. Just over 13 million children now receive a child support grant. This has reduced child hunger rates from the high levels seen during the apartheid and immediate post-apartheid eras.
