Wanga Zembe-Mkabile, David Sanders, Vundli Ramokolo, Tanya Doherty
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引用次数: 2
Abstract
Background: Despite South Africa being an upper middle-income country producing enough food to sustain its population, and having an advanced social welfare system, it has high levels of food insecurity at the household-level. Food insecurity is linked to malnutrition and undernutrition in children. This manuscript addresses gaps in knowledge about food choices and practices of primary caregivers of children in receipt of South Africa's largest cash transfer programme, the Child Support Grant (CSG).
Objective: The main objective of the study was to explore CSG caregivers' foodways and the choices they made about what food to buy, where to buy it and for what reasons, in Langa in the Western Cape and Mt Frere in the Eastern Cape.
Methods: We conducted a total of 40 in-depth interviews and 5 focus group discussions with primary caregivers of Child Support Grant recipients younger than 5 years in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces.
Results: Caregivers' food choices were less influenced by cultural practices and personal preferences, than by financial and physical constraints in terms of what and where to access food. Constraints in food choices were chiefly a consequence of the small amount of the grant, as well as a food environment that only availed foods of a certain quality and type in these low-income communities.
Conclusions: The foodways of recipients of social assistance can only be better aligned with nutrition messaging and policy if there are changes in the monetary value of cash transfers, and the food environments of low-income households which determine access to, availability and affordability of nutritious food. Local informal food enterprises play an important role in the food system of CSG recipients and need to be considered in any strategies that seek to reform the food system of low-income communities in South Africa and similar settings.
期刊介绍:
Global Health Action is an international peer-reviewed Open Access journal affiliated with the Unit of Epidemiology and Global Health, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine at Umeå University, Sweden. The Unit hosts the Umeå International School of Public Health and the Umeå Centre for Global Health Research.
Vision: Our vision is to be a leading journal in the global health field, narrowing health information gaps and contributing to the implementation of policies and actions that lead to improved global health.
Aim: The widening gap between the winners and losers of globalisation presents major public health challenges. To meet these challenges, it is crucial to generate new knowledge and evidence in the field and in settings where the evidence is lacking, as well as to bridge the gaps between existing knowledge and implementation of relevant findings. Thus, the aim of Global Health Action is to contribute to fuelling a more concrete, hands-on approach to addressing global health challenges. Manuscripts suggesting strategies for practical interventions and research implementations where none already exist are specifically welcomed. Further, the journal encourages articles from low- and middle-income countries, while also welcoming articles originated from South-South and South-North collaborations. All articles are expected to address a global agenda and include a strong implementation or policy component.