MHM Magazine

26 | MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS | 2025 | Issue 1 MHM Goldilocks and The Bear Foundation is a non-profit organisation based in the Western Cape. The Foundation provides free mental health screening and early intervention services in underprivileged communities to identify children with mental health disorders, such as ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and learning difficulties. As part of the screening process weight is measured and documented. The BMI is calculated to assess whether this is proportional to the height. The evaluation also includes identifying potential signs of malnutrition challenges. The World Food Program (WFP) defines people as being food secure when “they have availability and adequate access at all times to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”. Results indicate that out of almost 17,9 million households in SA in 2021, almost 80 percent (14,2 million) reported they had adequate access to food, while 15 percent (2,6 million) and 6 percent (1,1 million) stated they have inadequate and severe inadequate access to food, respectively. In 2021, two-thirds of these households were in urban areas, and almost half a million of them were found in the country’s largest cities; Cape Town (240 970) and Johannesburg (238 610). More than half a million (683 221) households with children aged five years or younger reported experiencing hunger. “It makes me sad, because no child should ever suffer from hunger,” said 16-year-old Talita, co-host of Zaahra’s Kitchen on RX Radio. “In the Children’s Bill of Rights, it states that children have the right to food, and if they can’t afford to buy some food, there should be people willing to lend a helping hand.” The concern is young children under the age of two are the most vulnerable to SAM, (Severe Acute Malnutrition), and stunting rates peak in children under three. We also know that the uptake of the Child Support Grant (CSG) is particularly low in the first year of life, with just over one-third of poor children not receiving a grant. So, there is an urgent need to support these — the most vulnerable children who aren’t covered by other safety nets such as the National School Nutrition Programme and ECD (early childhood development) subsidy,” Poor nutrition can have permanent consequences. Dr Chantell Witten, a lecturer at the University of the Free State’s Faculty of Health Sciences, told Spotlight that these children are at risk of higher rates of stunting and obesity, lower cognitive development, delayed milestones and long-term health issues such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. “Child malnutrition casts a long shadow into adulthood,” she says. “Children can eat food but they’ll land up in hospital when the nutrition is not in place. I don’t think people get that,” says Witten. SAM and hospitalisation for malnutrition is just the tip of the iceberg, she added. Last year, just under 1,200 children died in hospital from SAM, but many more children suffer from long-term consequences of malnutrition, like stunting, but these are not counted. It’s also not known how many children die from SAM outside the hospital. “We seemed obsessed with counting death and not responding to the suffering along the line which is affecting most children. Children who are chronically malnourished and compromised learn less, engage less and are at a higher risk of dying. At a 27% stunting rate, we are talking millions of children who are the unseen, silent victims of malnutrition. These children will be less likely to reach their full potential.” “Every article talks about the stunting rate, but not every article says that these same children are the ones who are less likely to complete high school, less likely to get good jobs, less likely to earn enough salary. They will be trapped in poverty. The whole nutrition poverty cycle is stunting, but it’s By Ronel Aylward Registered Nurse ronel@gb4adhd.co.za FOOD INSECURITY AND THE LONG-TERM EFFECT ON CHILDREN MHM | 2025 | Volume 12 | Issue 1 | Food in ecurity and the long-term effect on children H