Adverse birth outcomes and infant undernutrition remain the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Impaired infant growth and development, which often begins during foetal development, may persist during the first 2 years of life and has been associated with higher risks of cardiometabolic diseases. This systematic review assessed the associations between maternal demographic characteristics and household socio-economic status (SES), and preterm birth (PTB), small for gestational age, low birth weight (LBW), stunting, wasting and underweight in children under 2 years of age in SSA countries. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we searched for publications in three electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus and ScienceDirect). Eleven studies on children under 2 years of age, in four SSA regions, published in English between 1990 and 2018, were included. All the studies were observational in design (cross-sectional or cohort studies). Maternal education was the most commonly explored exposure. Most studies (63.3%) focused on undernutrition during the first 2 years of life: LBW, PTB and stunting. Lower maternal education, maternal unemployment and lower household wealth index were the SES factors most commonly associated with adverse birth outcomes and infant undernutrition. Maternal marital status was not associated with any infant outcomes. The definitions of the SES varied, which may explain discrepancies between studies. Nutrition intervention programs in SSA need to promote education and poverty alleviation in women at reproductive age, starting from pre-pregnancy, to optimise infant growth and development and prevent the increase in the prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases.
Traditional sorghum and millet food and beverage products are still made and consumed by rural communities across Africa, the Indian subcontinent, in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, especially China. There is a great variety of such products, including gruels and porridges, flatbreads, steamed and rice products, nonalcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages (beers, “wine,” and distilled spirits), snacks, and condiments. A common characteristic of many of the products is that their processing involves a mixed culture microbial fermentation. Very ingenious processing technologies have been developed to optimize product quality in respect of the unique physicochemical characteristics of sorghum and millet grains, for example, the absence of viscoelastic dough-forming gluten and the high gelatinization temperature of their starches. The manufacture of some products has been industrialized at large-scale, notably, opaque sorghum beer brewing in Southern Africa. This has resulted in the application of new technologies and changes in the nature of the products.
In the heart of Northern Syria , rising from the ruins, there is an ecological village built by and for women of diverse backgrounds and faiths. With their bare hands they build their homes, their schools, and their farms. Amidst the vi olence, these w omen creat e a peaceful place for themselves and their children , free from the oppression of patriarchy, and in respect with nature. This is just one example from this year’s Right to Food and Nutrition Watch (hereinafter, the Watch ) , as it continues to support the struggles of small – scale producers and those most affected by hunger and malnutrition.
It is tragic and outrageous that the people who produce the food that we eat in South Africa are those most likely to go hungry. Some people think that this issue can only be resolved by redistributing land. Others think that wages must improve. But nobody has really engaged with farm workers themselves about what they would like to see for their future. This is why a national conference on the future of farm workers in South Africa will be held in October, as farm workers, academics, activists, farmers and government officials create a vision for what the future of farm workers could be.
Through the application of traditional and contemporary feminist theories in gender mainstreaming, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to emergent debate on gender dimensions in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) adoption by smallholder farmers in disaster-prone regions. This is important to ensure that CSA strategies are tailored to farmer-specific gender equality goals.
An exploratory-sequential mixed methods research design which is qualitatively biased was applied. Key informant interviews and farmer focus group discussions in two study sites formed initial qualitative phase whose findings were explored in a quantitative cross-sectional household survey.
Findings shared in this paper indicate the predominant application of traditional gender mainstreaming approaches in CSA focusing on parochial gender dichotomy. Qualitative findings highlight perceptions that western gender approaches are not fully applicable to local contexts and realities, with gender mainstreaming in CSA seemingly to fulfil donor requirements, and ignorant of the heterogeneous nature of social groups. Quantitative findings establish that married men are majority adopters and non-adopters of CSA, while dis-adopters are predominantly de jure female household heads. The latter are more likely to adopt CSA than married women whose main role in CSA is implementers of spouse’s decisions. Access to education, intra-household power relations, productive asset and land ownership are socio-cultural dynamics shaping farmer profiles.
By incorporating African feminisms and intersectionality in CSA, value of this study lies in recommending gender policy reforms incorporating local gender contexts within the African socio-cultural milieu. This paper accentuates potential benefits of innovative blend of both contemporary and classic gender mainstreaming approaches in CSA research, practice and technology development in disaster-prone regions.
This chapter deals with three sites of neo-liberalism. The first is labour, which reveals how neo-liberalism intensifies many women’s economic vulnerability. The second is the masculine work environment and institutional culture that it naturalises, and the third is the impact of neo- liberalism on activism, education, and training. In each of these sites, gender hierarchies interact with economic systems to reinforce patriarchal and heterosexist subjectivities, interpersonal and power relations, and institutional cultures.
Despite important strides in the fight against poverty in the past two decades, child poverty remains widespread and persistent, particularly in Africa. Poverty in all its dimensions is detrimental for early childhood development and often results in unreversed damage to the lives of girls and boys, locking children and families into intergenerational poverty. This edited volume contributes to the policy initiatives aiming to reduce child poverty and academic understanding of child poverty and its solutions by bringing together applied research from across the continent. With the Sustainable Development Goals having opened up an important space for the fight against child poverty, not least by broadening its conceptualization to be multidimensional, this collection aims to push the frontiers by challenging existing narratives around child poverty, exploring alternative understandings of the complexities and dynamics underpinning child poverty, and, crucially, examining policy options that work to address this critical challenge.
Africa’s high level of food insecurity is exacerbated by rapid urbanisation, leading to the diversion of resources from food production in rural areas. Despite this, food insecurity policies continue to disproportionately focus on rural dwellers due to persistently high levels of rural poverty. We examine the association between housing type and urban food insecurity using the 2017 South Africa General Household Survey. Using the Household Food Security Access Scale and a dietary diversity indicator, we find that like other forms of deprivation in South Africa, food insecurity has significant racial and gender dimensions. Dwelling type is vital in influencing the food insecurity of households using both measures. Persons living in informal homes are more likely to experience food insecurity than those in semi-formal and formal dwellings. There is a need to create a synergy between new and already existing programmes so that they are appropriately leveraged.
In our pursuit of a more equitable, just and sustainable society, we must examine not only who makes decisions, but also on whose evidence these decisions are made. The question of whose knowledge is to be recognised, translated and incorporated into action1 is especially important in South Africa as universities attempt to respond to calls to decolonise the curricula. In this Commentary, I argue that widening the scope of knowledge production is an essential role that universities can play in creating knowledge democracy. Communities of practice are presented as a way in which scientists can cultivate research partnerships with stakeholders outside of science to co-produce knowledge needed to solve society’s current complex challenges.
Very little is known about seasonal hunger in South Africa, or about the food security and nutritional status of farm workers. This article identifies a pathway to seasonal hunger—through intra-annual fluctuations in agricultural employment and income—that is underanalyzed in the literature. We report on findings from a year-long data collection process, comprising baseline and endline surveys and monthly monitoring of three food security indicators, with a sample of 195 female farm workers in the Northern Cape province in South Africa. The three monthly monitoring indicators—the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), and Coping Strategies Index (CSI)—which measure different aspects of food insecurity, are analyzed to determine whether and to what extent food security fluctuates seasonally in our sample. HFIAS results show unambiguous evidence of seasonal food insecurity, with the highest prevalence (88 percent experiencing severe food insecurity) and severity during the low employment winter period, and lowest prevalence (49 percent) and severity during the summer harvest, which corresponds with relatively higher employment and earnings. The DDS results show evidence of highest dietary diversity during summer and the CSI results reveal the need to employ coping strategies to deal with intensified food insecurity during winter.