Submission to SAHRC national inquiry into food systems of South Africa

South’s Africa’s burden of child malnutrition is disproportionately high for an upper middle-income country.

The health and development of South Africa’s children are compromised by a double burden of both undernutrition (reflected in wasting, underweight, stunting and micronutrient deficiencies) and overnutrition (reflected in overweight and obesity).

Key public health concerns include the persistently high prevalence of stunting, and a dramatic increase in overweight and obesity, both of which undermine the immediate and long-term health and development of 1 in 4 young children.

But we also focus attention on the much smaller proportion of children affected by wasting or Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) given the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) investigation into child malnutrition deaths and the right to food in the Eastern Cape – as no child should die of hunger and malnutrition in a country that produces more than enough food to feed its people.

Our submission to the SAHRC inquiry into South Africa's food systems, in February 2026, provides a brief overview of the forms and prevalence of different types of child malnutrition in South Africa. It then outlines some of the key drivers of malnutrition including poverty and inequality, and a predatory and unhealthy food system. It then motivates for these challenges to be addressed as a child-rights imperative, and introduces three key principles and seven critical steps that will help ensure that child nutrition and children’s best interests are placed at the centre of our efforts to reform the food system.