SA faces growing child malnutrition, with 110 deaths in 3 years

Malnutrition in children is growing in South Africa, with severe cases that result in deaths.

Unicef chief of health in South Africa Dr Sufang Guo said “prevalence of wasting in children has doubled from 2.5% in 2016, to 5% in 2024, and severe wasted children account for 3.2%”.

“Those severely wasted children are facing life-threatening situations,” Guo said.

Life-threatening situations

He added that 24% of children who died in the country in 2019 had severe malnutrition.

“However, we do not have the latest updates on the proportion of children who died who had severe malnutrition.”

A total of 110 children under the age of five died of malnutrition over the past three years.

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This was out of 1 600 children who were hospitalised, Northern Cape MEC of health Maruping Lekwenet revealed last week, responding to a DA question in the legislature.

Karen Jooste, DA member in the Northern Cape legislature, accused the government of failing to ensure food security in the province.

“The food security crisis in the Northern Cape is not new. In 2020, the National Institute of Health identified the province as the worst affected by undernutrition in South Africa, with wasting prevalence at 19% and 18.8% of children being underweight,” said Jooste.

Food security crisis in NC

“These alarming figures are exacerbated by poor intergovernmental coordination.

“The DA will not rest until the Northern Cape government ensures no child goes to bed hungry and no family suffers the loss of a child due to malnutrition.

“The DA is committed to pushing for the accelerated implementation of the Northern Cape integrated food security plan and rigorous oversight once implemented.

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“We will also engage communities and civil society organisations to drive better collaboration and for more soup kitchens to be funded.”

Health department spokesperson Foster Mohale yesterday conceded the country had a problem, but said the department was “winning” in addressing the situation.

“The severe acute malnutrition case fatality rate (CFR) declined from 11.8% in 2014, to 6.5% in 2024, nationally. A decline in CFR was also shown in the Free State (12.2%-5.7%), Northern Cape (10.9%-5.1%) and Limpopo (14.6% -6.1%) in 2014 and 2018 respectively.

SA has a problem, health dept ‘winning’

“The Child Health Care Problem Identification Programme, used for reporting on causes of death in health facilities, showed the percentage of in-hospital deaths associated with severe acute malnutrition was 31%. However, a decline was seen over the years up to 24% in 2019,” Mohale said.

He said children with malnutrition present with comorbidities. Some of the most common include HIV, TB, acute diarrhoea, serious bacterial infections such as septicaemia, respiratory infections and long-term medical conditions such as cancer and other conditions.

“Key actions undertaken by the department of health over the years include a routine implementation of evidence-based interventions across all provinces aimed at prevention, early identification and treatment of acute malnutrition,” said Mohale.

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“These include promoting breastfeeding and optimal complementary feeding, growth monitoring and promotion.”

The department would continue to collaborate and partner with all sectors and stakeholders to scale up high-impact nutrition interventions, targeting women, infants and children to address the challenges of food insecurity, malnutrition and hunger.

Guo said the figures had remained largely the same in the past 30 years, showing a slight increase from 27% in 2016, to 29% in 2024.

Figures largely the same for past 30 years

“According to the National Food and Nutrition Security Survey, over 1.7 million children are stunted [meaning 3 out of 10 children are short for their age].”

A Unicef report released in June showed South Africa was one of 20 countries that account for 65% of all children living in severe child food poverty.

“Of particular concern is that 23% of children in the country are classified in that category and are at risk of life-threatening malnutrition and related health complications.”

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