EASTERN CAPE NEWS - In just 18 months Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) has more than doubled in the Eastern Cape.
116 children died because of SAM in the 2021/22 period.
Fast forward a financial year, and the number of children suffering from this has gone up from 1 087 children to 2 758. A disturbing trend that must be halted immediately.
Child malnutrition has a wide array of knock-on effects. Children distracted from their education, adults self-sacrificing to feed their family and a direct route to depression.
Without the generous souls in the communities feeding these children, the death and SAM rates would be far worse.
This action needs to be immediate. Declare the child malnutrition in the Eastern Cape a state of disaster and present urgent intervention plans. We do not have time to waste.
Civil society and government have already been collaborating to ensure that the SAM emergency stabilizes since 2021/2022. These efforts have not been successful. Therefore, we require that these preventative measures be escalated, and a state of disaster declared.
We have seen a SOD declaration used to great effect (without panic) when KZN infrastructure collapsed due to severe flooding. This method was used to rapidly bring personal, supplies and funding into an area with the intention of immediately preventing any further damage and repairing what has been destroyed. This model is desperately needed to save more young lives from starvation and malnutrition in the Eastern Cape.
Considering all of this, GOOD calls on the Premier of the Eastern Cape to echo our call (supported by civil society and local activists) by committing to the following:
• Declare a state of disaster in the Eastern Cape for Child Malnutrition
• Use the available funding to employ the local activists feeding these communities
• Hire youth from the surrounding high youth unemployment communities to assist, receive training and independently operate at these stations
• Provide accurate research and data for the South African public every 3 months for transparent action.
GOOD demands action before we lose more future doctors, engineers and policymakers to the jaws of hunger.
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