South Africa has a high stunting rate, an indicator of chronic malnutrition that measures if a child is too short for their age, which has hovered around 25 since the 1990s.
That impacts our per capita GDP a sign of a countrys standard of living which is 10 smaller than it could be if our children were not physically and intellectually damaged by a lack of nutritious food.
Our Child Support Grant CSG has had an impact but its not keeping up with food inflation .
DG Murray Trusts David Harrison has five low-cost strategies we could use to boost both child health and our economy.
In todays newsletter , Mia Malan and Tanya Pampalone look at malnutrition among South Africas children. Sign up for our newsletter today.
COMMENT
Make a list of the countrys 10 priorities for national development. Now whittle them down to five. Does your shortlist include giving children enough nutritious food to eat? If not, youre missing an essential part of what countries need to grow their economies: children who are well nourished and ready to learn, grow up to be skilled and productive workers that drive economic growth.
South Africa has a stubbornly high stunting rate, an indicator of chronic malnutrition that measures if a child is too short for their age. It has hovered around 25 since the 1990s. Meanwhile, our per capita GDP a measure of a countrys standard of living is 10 smaller than it could be if our children were not physically and intellectually damaged by a lack of nutritious food.
Despite tough economic circumstances, we can make a massive difference to child nutrition. Peru halved its rate of stunting among children in just eight years 2008 to 2016, and Chile has pretty much eliminated it. Social grants played a large role in those countries. Here, the child support grant CSG has also had significant impact, with stunting almost a third lower among eligible children who get the grant when compared to those who dont. But the CSG is not keeping up with food inflation . That means we need to use other strategies that could be implemented immediately.