Does SASSA R580 Child Support Grant cover the needs of kids?

13-million households receive the SASSA R580 Child Support Grant. But new data suggests nearly one in three South African children under the age of five is stunted. Nearly 30% of young children are too short for their age because their bodies haven’t received enough of the right nutrients over time.

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Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi submitted this telling figure to the South African Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into food systems. For families relying on SASSA R580 Child Support Grant, this isn’t just an abstract number, it’s real. And it is well above the global average …

SASSA R580 CHILD SUPPORT GRANT

“South Africa does not have a food shortage problem. We have a nutrition problem,” says Tshimbi Mokgele of the StartWell Foundation NGO. A child can eat until full without getting the protein, vitamins and minerals a growing body and developing brain needs. South African Social Security Agency Childcare grants are due for payment this week, on Tuesday 6 October, but the NGO suggests more needs to be done.

R580 stretches further for bulk starches than the protein-rich, nutrient-dense food that helps prevent stunting. Other government feeding schemes face the same problem. The Department of Basic Education spends over R10 billion annually on the National School Nutrition Programme. This covers 9.7 million meals a day, funded at R24 per child per day. However, Mokgele’s concern is that many feeding programmes measure meals served, not whether stunting actually falls.

MORE THAN MONEY ALONE CAN FIX

The Finance Minister did not see fit to increase childcare grants in October. And there’s more to be done to solve the challenges. Image: File

Therefore, more money going to Child Support recipients wouldn’t solve this on its own. Microbiologist Thulani Makhalanyane and health economist Ronelle Burger point to another complication no amount of food addresses directly. Namely, repeated infections, unsafe water and poor sanitation that damages a child’s gut, leaving it unable to absorb nutrients properly, a condition called ‘environmental enteric dysfunction.’

“Children living in informal settlements, where sanitation is generally poor, are exposed to microorganisms through dirt, dust and sewage,” Makhalanyane said. Other contributing factors sit further upstream still. This includes, undernourished pregnant women facing higher odds of low-birth-weight babies. And then there’s alcohol use during pregnancy, well before the SASSA R580 Child Support Grant becomes relevant.

BEYOND THE SASSA R580 CHILD SUPPORT GRANT

As such, communities living in poverty for multiple generations tend to be short on stature. StartWell’s programme now visits early childhood centres monthly, measuring children against international height-for-age standards to try catch any problems before they compound. And Makhalanyane’s prescription is blunt: “Progress means improving sanitation, infection control, nutrition and early childhood stimulation.” Whether SASSA R580 Child Support Grant R580 is adequate is only part of a bigger task that needs tackling …

But what do you think? Do you notice child malnutrition and stunting in your community? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …

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