South Africa: SA Harvest Raises Malnutrition Concerns

SA Harvest has highlighted the problem of malnutrition faced by children in South Africa due to a lack of balanced meals.

Development Diaries reports that founder of SA Harvest, Alan Browde, said he has come up with a solution to ensure quality food is given to children and the elderly among vulnerable groups.

SDG Two: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

The nonprofit works to help vulnerable people by delivering nutritious food to organisations across South Africa that feed those in need.

Malnutrition in South African children was estimated at 27 percent in 2016, according to a report by The Borgen Project.

Also, figures from the World Health Organisation show that undernutrition has been estimated to contribute up to 45 percent of child mortality in the country.

The initiative, according to Browde, started in 2019, feeding millions of people through the help of donors and friends.

He said the project served five million meals weekly around the country in NGOs based within the communities.

According to Browde, the use of a nutrition tracker helps them ensure the quality of food is maintained till it is delivered and stored properly in the communities.

‘The nutrition tracker employs trustworthy data from the food and agriculture organisation, identifying 60 essential nutrients in over 1,000 food items’, he said.

‘It calculates the weight of each micro and macronutrient relative to the recommended daily allowance, contributing to a holistic view of the nutritional value of food ‘bundles’ delivered to SA Harvest’s beneficiary organisations.

‘The tracker includes a scoring system that rates the nutritional value of the food bundle, setting a potential industry-wide standard for hunger-relief efforts’.

Development Diaries calls on the Food Control section of the South African National Department of Health to step up measures to ensure that children in the country are consuming quality food.

Photo source: UNICEF

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