The challenges facing empirical estimation of household food (in)security in South Africa

Figures & data

Table 1 Summary of nutritional indicators for children aged 6–71 months, 1994

	Per cent of children in sample
Nutritional indicator	Northern Cape	Western Cape	Eastern Cape	KwaZulu- Natal	Mpuma- langa	Limpopo	Gauteng	Eastern Cape
Underweight^a	15,6	7,0	11,4	4,2	7,3	12,6	5,6	11,4
Stunting^b	22,8	11,6	28,8	15,6	20,4	34,2	11,5	28,8
Wasting^c	2,5	1,3	3,2	0,7	1,7	3,8	1,2	4,5
^aUnderweight children have low weights for age, reflecting current inadequate food intakes, past episodes of under-nutrition and/or poor health conditions that affect child nutrition.
^bStunting refers to low height for age, reflecting long-term under-nutrition and sustained poor environmental and socio-economic status of households.
^cWasting refers to low weight for height that is a result of weight loss associated with recent starvation or severe disease.
Source: Steyn (1996, citing SAVACG, 1994).

Table 2 Food poverty and low energy availability among households in three provinces, 1995

	Food secure	Food poverty only	Low energy availability only	Food poverty and low energy availability
	Per cent of population (urban and rural)
Eastern Cape	40,6	5,5	11,1	42,8
KwaZulu-Natal	41,2	3,8	15,1	39,9
Limpopo	37,4	13,5	5,5	43,7
South Africa	41,5	3,9	15,9	38,7
Source: Rose, 2004.

Table 3 Subjective Assessment of Food Insecurity in South Africa by Province and Area of Residence, 1994–99

	Did not have enough money to feed children in household		Could not afford to feed children in the household		Children aged under 7 went hungry because there was not enough money to buy food
	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
National	41,0	31,7	27,0	25,5	31,1	23,4
Rural	49,2	–	29,1	29,9	37,2	27,6
Urban	34,1	–	25,5	22,3	26,4	19,1
Source: HSRC (2004, citing Statistics South Africa, 1994–99).

Table 4 Prevalence of under-nutrition, food insecurity and hunger among children in three provinces and South Africa, 1999

	Eastern Cape (per cent of sample) n = 465	KwaZulu-Natal (per cent of sample) n = 465	Limpopo (per cent of sample) n = 465	South Africa (per cent of sample) n = 2613
Stunting^a	20,5	18,5	23,1	21,6
Underweight^a	7,1	6,0	15,0	10,3
Wasting^a	1,8	4,3	7,5	3,7
Household food insecure^b	88–94	63–73	62–79	60–73
Individual insecurity and child hunger^b	64–92	38–61	37–72	36–67
Child hunger level^b	29	27	32	30
^aPercentages for  < − ,22SDs.
^bAdjusted scores for factor analysis.
Source: Labadarios & Nel, 2003, p 202; Gerike et al., 2003, p 837.

Table 5 Prevalence of under-nutrition (KIDS 1994 and 1998)

		Prevalence of stunting (per cent of sample)		Prevalence of wasting (per cent of sample)
Age of children	Survey round	Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls
4–5 years	1994	8,0	6,0	4,8	3,0
	1998	23,6	23,4	5,2	7,1
8–11 years	1994	20,6	17,0	9,7	7,0
	1998	28,4	26,8	7,3	7,2
Source: Jinabhai et al., 2004.

Steyn and NP . Priorities of the Ministry of Heath . 1996 . Chapter 13: nutrition. , (WWW document). Available at: http://hst.org.za/sahr/96/chapt13_18.htm(accessed 7 May 2004)

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Rose and D . 5 May 2004 2004 . “ Personal communication ” . 5 May 2004 , New Orleans : Department of Community Health Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine .

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Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) . 2004 . Food security in South Africa: key policy issues for the medium term , Pretoria : Integrated Rural and Regional Development, HSRC . Position paper

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Jinbhai , CC , Taylor , M , Sullivan and KR . 2004 . “ Changing patterns of over and under nutrition among South African children – future risks of non-communicable diseases ” . Durban : Department of Community Health, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal . Draft paper

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