The struggle against hunger, malnutrition

THIS week the 41st anniversary of World Food Day will be celebrated.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN chose October 16 as World Food Day in 1979. World Food Day is commemorated yearly to promote global awareness and advocate collective action to assist those who suffer from hunger, and highlights the need to ensure healthy diets for all.

South Africa needs economic growth, however while economic growth is the long-term solution to poverty eradication, we simply cannot wait for economic growth before addressing the hunger crisis that is clearly all around us.

If the government is serious about hunger and protecting the dignity (no attachments). All letters must contain the writer’s full name, physical address and telephone number. No pen names. of the poor, the status quo is not enough.

According to Statistics South Africa, the South African population grew from 56.52 million in 2017 to 59.62 million in the middle of 2020, an estimated increase of 3.1 million people in three years, hence the need to put more effort and innovation into fighting hunger through increasing productivity.

According to the results of the General Household Survey (GHS) 2019, released in December 2020, the number of persons with limited access to food in South Africa decreased from 13.75 million in 2018 to 11.02 million in 2019, a difference of 2.73 million people. The percentage of households with inadequate or severely inadequate access to food decreased from 23.6% in 2010 to 20.2% in 2018.

For persons, it decreased from 29.1% to 23.8% over the same period. Vulnerability to hunger has also decreased for both households and persons over the same period (GHS, 2018).

Food access problems were more serious in North West (36.6%), Northern Cape (32.3%), Mpumalanga (28.4%), and Eastern Cape (25.4%). Gauteng (12.8%) and Limpopo (7.4%) had the least food access problems.

The percentage of persons with limited access to food in 2018 decreased in all provinces except in Limpopo, where it remained the same as in 2017.

The highest percentage in reduction of persons with food access problems was in Gauteng, followed by KZN and Western Cape.

This month therefore offers opportunities to strengthen national and international solidarity in the struggle against poverty, hunger and malnutrition as well as drawing attention to the achievements of food and nutrition security. The government and private sector need to come together to ensure the eradication of poverty and hunger in attempts to meet the requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals.