Policy, and the involvement of civil society and other stakeholders, is vital for rebalancing the food system and addressing undernutrition and obesity
Celebrated annually on 16 October to commemorate the date of the founding of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in 1945, World Food Day aims to improve nutrition and food security for all people while strengthening food system resilience and sustainability.
It promotes a global commitment to tackling the interrelated issues of hunger, poverty and climate change by guaranteeing access to safe, reasonably priced and nutrient-dense meals. In essence, it speaks to the need to increase the variety of nutrient-dense foods cultivated in our fields and made available to our marketplaces and on our tables.
After oxygen and water, food is the third most basic human necessity. Farmers worldwide produce enough food to feed everyone on the planet but hunger persists in many areas globally.
Nearly 733 million people around the world are facing hunger due to repeated weather shocks, conflicts, economic downturns and inequality, as well as the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The most vulnerable and impoverished people are hardest hit by this.
It is, therefore, fitting that the theme for this year’s World Food Day is “Right to foods for a better life and a better future”.
It advocates for the right to a variety of safe, economical and nutritious foods in response to the persistent global problems of food poverty, hunger and climate change, with the goal of improving lives now and for future generations.
The South African Constitution, which guarantees everyone the right to adequate food, basic nutrition for children and nutrition for those in detention or jail, upholds the right to food for all citizens.
According to the law, the government should oversee that there is enough food available across the country and that it satisfies dietary needs and safety standards. The right to food is, however, not explicitly covered by any specific laws in South Africa.
Although there are laws covering a variety of topics that are related to the right to food, including social security, land and healthcare laws, as well as policy, for example, the National Policy on Food and Nutrition Security, inadequate implementation of these action plans remains a problem.
There is a rising trend of a “triple burden” of malnutrition in South Africa, where undernutrition and overnutrition coexist with vitamin and mineral deficiencies. These conditions disproportionally threaten the survival, health and development of young children.
A quarter of South African children suffer from stunting (low length/height for age) and will fail to meet their developmental potential.
At the same time, childhood overweight and obesity is on the increase, conditions which are linked to non-communicable diseases in later life, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, heart disease and ailments such as digestive and bone, muscle and joint complications.
Article 28(2) of the Constitution states, “A child’s best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child”.
Furthermore, Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child aims to ensure that parents and children are informed and supported with knowledge of child health and nutrition. This includes the critical role of breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding in child survival, nutrition and development.
Food marketing is also increasingly recognised as a children’s rights concern.
Marketing of foods high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, free sugars and/or salt negatively impacts several of the rights enshrined in the UN convention, including the rights to health, adequate and nutritious food, privacy and freedom from exploitation. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has stated that the marketing of such foods should be regulated.
Coherent government policies are crucial for rebalancing the food system, addressing both undernutrition and obesity simultaneously. This requires coordination across multiple sectors and levels of government.
The National Policy on Food and Nutrition Security, currently being redesigned, aims to establish provincial and district committees to align related policies. But few committees exist, and those that do, focus on sharing programme information rather than coordinating efforts.
A proposed national council within the deputy president’s office has received little cabinet attention. Its effectiveness as a “representative coalition” depends on genuine inclusion of civil society and other stakeholders, which could provide political impetus and create a space to address food and nutrition issues comprehensively.
Attempts to remedy this is a focus of civil society groups engaged in the design process of the new policy. These groups want to establish functioning committees that align and coordinate resources.
Such governance arrangements are required as close as possible to the places in which hunger and malnutrition are playing out, so that the perspectives of grassroots organisations can inform responses — and in turn hold the state to account.
Local and provincial governments play critical roles in creating conditions that alleviate hunger. The focus is on providing coordinated actions to promote healthy diets for children, building real choice and agency.
Individual food choices are constrained by poverty and rising prices. Many children grow up in obesogenic environments (environments that encourage unhealthy eating and limited physical activity) where healthy foods are scarce or unaffordable.
Children’s diets are shaped by the food system, local food environments and dietary practices in homes, schools and early childhood development centres.
Local government can engage diverse actors to recalibrate the entire system, connecting food to core aspects of people’s lives and supportive basic services.
Practical approaches include systematic local government planning, such as setting up community kitchens as safety nets in areas of high vulnerability; protecting street vendors when weather or crime affect their businesses and thinking about public services as a benefit to the system, rather than being simply focused on enforcement to ensure safety regulations are followed.
Community kitchens can also be considered as sites for connection, capacity building and knowledge sharing. Being deliberate about such actions can build ways to engage the structures that drive hunger.
Beyond safety nets, local governments can support early childhood development centres as spaces for healthy meals and building healthy social norms.
Supporting spaza shops and informal vendors can increase access to fresh produce through improved infrastructure, water and sanitation services and solid waste management. Policies can make healthier food more affordable, accessible and appealing while discouraging high sugar, salt, and fat options.
Lisanne du Plessis is an associate professor and Scott Drimie an extraordinary professor in the Division of Human Nutrition in the Department of Global Health in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University.