An extra 6 000 children a year have gone hungry since Covid-19 and food price increases, but experts say reported figures are probably grossly under-estimated.
Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla had told parliament that the rate of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in children under five had risen 26% in the past five years, the sharpest increase reported in the Eastern Cape (children weighing less than 60% of their recommended weight are considered to have SAM).
However, experts said the figures reported by provincial health departments are just the tip of the iceberg, as many critically ill children admitted to public healthcare facilities with underlying malnutrition are diagnosed with other conditions like pneumonia or diarrhoea, and are not recorded as having SAM.
Phaahla said the increase in the reported incidence of SAM might represent a real increase in malnutrition, but could also be due to better case detection. However, critics say the data underrepresent the true scale of severe malnutrition, reports BusinesLIVE.
DG Murray Trust CEO David Harrison said there are 6m children under five in SA, implying 15 000 children had SAM in 2022/23.
“This is unacceptably high. I don’t buy the argument about better case detection: severe malnutrition is exactly that – severe – and severe cases will end up in the health services,” he said.
The rising incidence of SAM suggests Covid-19 and the subsequent food price hikes sent an extra 6 000 children a year over the edge, he added.
“In general there is a 20%-30% gap in the adequacy of nutrition. Our children are 30% underpowered physically and mentally from malnutrition – they can function but they can’t achieve their full potential.
“We need both targeted and generalised approaches to increase food access and affordability.”
The incidence of SAM rose from 1.9 per 1 000 children under five in 2018/19 to 2.4 per 1 000 children under five in 2022/23, with the Eastern Cape recording the sharpest five-year increase, with SAM almost tripling between 2018/19 and 2022/23, from 0.7 per 1 000 children to 2.7 per 1 000. In 2022/23, the recorded incidence of SAM was highest in the Free State (6.4 per 1 000 children under five) and the Northern Cape (6.2), and lowest in Mpumalanga (1.3) and the Western Cape (1.5).
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Free State infant malnutrition and deaths from starvation on the rise
DoH tells Parliament: Thousands of SA’s children have died of malnutrition
Nelson Mandela Bay: Acute malnutrition cases increase while R67m distress grant remains unspent