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Faizel Patel – 24/02/2021
The University of Cape Town 2020 Child Gauge has revealed that one in four children under the age of five are stunted.
According to the report, this is a chronic undernutrition that has remained stubbornly unchanged for 20 years
The report has also found that South Africa has seen a steady increase in childhood overweight and obesity, which is now double the global average.
Speaking to Radio Islam, Julian May from the Centre of Excellence in Food Security at UWC says there are concerns surrounding the findings in the report.
“As a child develops, its development can be measured by its length when it’s an infant or by its height as it gets older. The idea here is what we are not only concerned about the physical height of a child. That length or that height also shows how well the child’s other systems are developing, its immune system, nervous system and critically it’s cognitive system.”
Meanwhile says obesity is also a problem.
“We talk about it as the double burden of malnutrition. It happens elsewhere in the world. Mexico is another country where we have an association between stunting and overweight and obesity. Overweight and obesity is actually an illness of poverty rather than wealth. The reason why people become overweight and obese is complex. But some of it has to with eating empty calories, so eating food that has lot of calories, fat, salt and sugar but no nutrition.”
The findings of the Child Gauge report has also found that thirty percent of South Africa’s children live below the food poverty line in households with a per capita income of less than R571 per month.
Listen to the interview with Julian May
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