CHILD NUTRITION24 JUL 2026Growing hunger in Gauteng’s classroomsWhile fewer children attending low-income schools in Gauteng are suffering from the long-term effects of chronic…Sheree Bega6 min read

Researchers say more children are going hungry in the short term despite improvements in stunting, raising concerns about household food insecurity and the adequacy of social support While fewer children attending low-income schools in Gauteng are suffering from the long-term effects of chronic malnutrition, many more are going hungry in the short term as rising food prices and economic hardship squeeze already struggling households, new research has revealed. Researchers from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) found that the proportion of underweight children aged five to 10 attending low-resource schools doubled from 6% to 12% between 2020 and 2022, even as rates of stunting declined. This means the proportion of underweight children increased from one in 16 to one in eight in the study period when many households lost income and state support as Covid-19 restrictions and economic shocks took hold.

“The doubling of underweight children is a warning sign,” said the study’s lead author, Dr Matshidiso Sello, a senior researcher at UJ’s Centre for Social Development in Africa. “What concerned me most was the increase in underweight among children despite the slight improvement in stunting. This suggests that many children are still living in households where access to adequate nutrition remains uncertain.” She said the findings suggest that many families are struggling to provide enough nutritious food in the short term, likely because of rising food prices, unemployment and the economic pressures that intensified during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the decline in stunting suggests long-term investments in child health, nutrition and school feeding programmes may be paying off, the rise in underweight children points to a more immediate problem: many families are struggling to put enough nutritious food on the table. Stunting and underweight measure two different forms of malnutrition. “Stunting reflects long-term or chronic undernutrition that usually develops during the first 1 000 days of a child’s life.

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Once a child is older, stunting is much harder to reverse,” Sello said. Underweight reflects more immediate changes in a child’s nutritional status and can respond more quickly to changes in food availability and household circumstances, she said. “In our study, we saw a slight decline in stunting but an increase in underweight. This suggests that although South Africa has made some progress in addressing long-term nutritional problems, many children remain vulnerable to short-term shocks such as household food insecurity, rising food prices and loss of income.” The findings are a reminder that improving child nutrition is not only about preventing stunting in early childhood but also about ensuring that school-aged children continue to have access to enough nutritious food, Sello said.

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