Cape Town - Young children in South Africa are more likely to live in poverty, suffer from food insecurity and malnutrition and die before their fifth birthday than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is according to the South African Early Childhood Review 2024, which tracks data on the status of children under six years, and is jointly published by Ilifa Labantwana; the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town; the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency; the Department of Basic Education; the Grow Great Campaign; and DataDrive2030.
Dr Katharine Hall, senior researcher at the Children’s Institute, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic erased gains made for young children in South Africa, presenting a massive setback we have not fully recovered from.”
All essential services for young children were affected by the lockdown, the review found.
While primary healthcare services had recovered, backlogs in birth registration and early access to social grants were still felt by many.
“This review comes at a critical juncture in our nation’s journey towards realising universal access to quality early ECD, especially for our most vulnerable children,” said Kulula Manona, chief director of Foundations for Learning in the Department of Basic Education.
Children’s long-term development relied on a package of interrelated and integrated services covering the period from conception to six years of age: healthcare; nutritional support; support for primary caregivers; social services and protection; and early learning, the review noted.
Dr Edzani Mphaphuli, executive director of Grow Great, said nearly 40% of children under the age of six now lived in households below the food poverty line.
Malnutrition was difficult to reverse, had lifelong consequences, and could be fatal.
Mphaphuli said stunting was the result of chronic undernutrition.
“Stunting leads to inequality because stunted children are more likely to grow up to be poor, unskilled, unemployed, and suffer from chronic diseases.
“We will not achieve our national development goals without ensuring young children’s food security. The new administration must prioritise increased social assistance to young children and expectant mothers, as well as nutrition programmes delivered directly through health services and early learning programmes,” said Mphaphuli.
Last year, 4.27 million children under the age of six received the Child Support Grant (R530 a month), representing 63% of all children in this age group.
Hall said the Child Support Grant had received annual increases that had not kept pace with food inflation and was no longer able to cover the minimum cost of feeding and clothing a child.
Cape Argus