This webinar will unpack the impact and long term consequences of Covid-19 national lockdowns and a weak economy on; childhood nutrition, health and development.
Concentrated industrial food systems present parents and children with adverse food environments that promote ultra-processed and unhealthy food consumption. Meanwhile, healthier options are often unaffordable due to poverty and food price increases – a nutritious basket of food costs more than the child support grant. During lockdown, access to food decreased due to loss of household incomes, temporary closure of street trading, inadequate food relief in scale and nutrient content, increased cost of the food basket, closure of the National Schools Nutrition Programme as well as Early Childhood Development Centres.
Dr Chantell Witten (University of the Free State) and Prof Jeremy Seekings (University of Cape Town)
Dr Hilary Goeiman (Western Cape Government); Daphne Erosi (Parent Organiser for Equal Education); Prof Julian May (University of the Western Cape); Dr Lori Lake (UCT)
We recognise that producers, processors, distributors and consumers are incorporated into the food system under varying terms and returns. We also recognise the economic, social, human and environmental health impacts associated with food security. Therefore our goal is to conduct research, build capacity and disseminate findings that will promote a sustainable food system in South Africa.
Our research is concerned with the scale, nature, causes and consequences of food insecurity in South Africa and elsewhere on the African continent. Thus our mission is to investigate products, technologies, processes and policies that can reduce food insecurity and mitigate its negative outcomes. We seek to make a difference to food security by linking innovative science with critical enquiry.