Child malnutrition is no stranger to high-income countries. In Canada and the U.S., food insecurity affects one in six children under 18, but policies to address the issue are still lacking.
Food parcels are handed to residents at a food distribution organised by the grassroots charity Hunger Has No Religion, in Westbury, Johannesburg.
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Problems caused by malnutrition - such as obesity - are on the rise in South Africa, with serious health consequences.
Marie Coetzee and her husband Fanie Coetzee live in the poverty stricken shanty town community of Munsieville, west of Johannesburg.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Hunger is not the cause of the current social upheaval. But, taken along with other deep-rooted structural inequalities, it provides additional fuel for socio-political conflagration.
Many South Africans live in poor conditions with no access to running water.
Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images
Harsh socio-environmental factors, especially when they happen in the early years of a child’s life, can establish a developmental “biology of misfortune”.
Kitwe Food and Farmers’ Market, Zambia.
Samantha Reinders/African Centre for Cities
There is no clear delineation of roles and responsibilities relating to the integration of clean water, sanitation, safe hygiene and nutritional status.
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The health and rights of children and adolescents, particularly the most marginalised and vulnerable, are under immediate threat from climate change, corporate actors and growing inequities.
Proper nutrition is crucial for countries and individuals.
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South African learners receiving two meals, despite being from arguably poorer backgrounds, had statistically significantly lower stunting levels than children receiving only one meal.
Tackling the challenge of stunting in South Africa needs a convergence of science and policy along with better coordination at all levels of government.
Healthy, supported children can be a boon to their countries’ economies.
Reuters/Tiksa Negeri
Poor childhood conditions, such as exposure to poverty and stunting, are associated with long-term disadvantages to health, education, social adjustment and earnings.
Women in Central African Republic wait for vaccinations.
Pierre Holtz for UNICEF
An index developed to gauge progress towards the sustainable development goals and their targets shows that nine of the world’s worst performing countries are in Africa.
Child stunting in Brazil was decreased by insisting that mothers visit healthcare centres.
Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino