Postpartum depression and stress diminish the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding in SA
Breast milk plays a vital role in reducing child mortality. It has all the nutrients a baby needs in the first six months of life and its health benefits extend into adulthood. This is why organisations, like UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO), recommend exclusive breastfeeding – no other food or drink, not even water – for infants in this period.
A lot is still uncertain about breastfeeding practices in South Africa. Getty Images
Social security could make life better in South Africa after COVID-19
Injecting purchasing power into poor households will stimulate demand and assist economic recovery. Reimagining social security in South Africa is not only a humanitarian imperative and a means of achieving social justice, it makes economic sense. It is something that the country cannot afford not to do.
The country will take years to recover economically. Ziyaad Douglas/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Women hit hardest by the impact of COVID-19
Sofia Sprechmann of humanitarian organisation Care International didn’t mince any words when she recently wrote on the impact that the COVID-19 has had on women: if before the crisis economic parity for women was still a good 257 years away, the pandemic has set that clock even further aback.
The coronavirus crisis has been a massive setback for the push for economic equality for women.
Changing our behaviour to improve food security
Across the world, COVID-19 has persuaded people to think more carefully about changing their behaviour. We need the private sector, NGOs and government officials to change their behaviour, for example, by prioritising the sale of food that is healthy over food that is profitable, and favouring community-driven approaches over top-down directives.
The world is in an unprecedented situation in which unprecedented moves must be made, and we should be ready to acknowledge mistakes and improve our individual and collective behaviours.
Despite South Africa’s food secure status at national level and the evidence that the country produces more food than it needs, there is a worrying degree of food insecurity at household level. The 2017 Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) report “Towards measuring the extent of food security in South Africa: An examination of hunger and food inadequacy” reveals that 20% of households did not have access to adequate food during the period studied.
The private sector, NGOs and government should prioritise the sale of food that is healthy over food that is profitable, and favouring community-driven approaches over top-down directives.
Food price hikes: Save money, support your local street trader