“It Is Unforgivable”: Unsung Heroes Tackle Hunger, Say SA Has Enough Land and Food To Feed All

• The Union Against Hunger (UAH) is a community-driven movement dedicated to ending hunger and malnutrition in South Africa
• To achieve this, the UAH advocates for systemic changes, including increased child support grants and a reduction of food waste
• The UAH emphasises that South Africa possesses the necessary resources to ensure food security for all its citizens, demanding accountability from both the government and the food industry

The Union Against Hunger (UAH), a new movement that seeks to be a community-led, dynamic South African movement committed to abolishing hunger and malnutrition in South Africa as soon as feasible, has been launched by a partnership of academia and civil society.

UAH movement takes bold action to end hunger in SA

South Africa is among the countries that face severe hunger and malnutrition, with one in four facing food insecurity. UAH aims to consult and mobilise for an urgent campaign to ensure children's rights to adequate nutrition, as enshrined in the Constitution.

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The UAH movement aims to ensure South Africans have access to sufficient food and nutrition through public awareness campaigns, community support initiatives, and systemic reform, aiming to reduce food waste and hold government and food-producing sectors accountable, which is the movement's overarching goal.

With the guarantee that everyone in South Africa has access to enough food and nourishment to enable them to realise their full potential. Public awareness efforts, community-based direct food assistance programs, and structural change lobbying will be used to achieve this.

To guarantee that food is available, reasonably priced, and healthful, UAH aims to change the country's food security environment by changing laws, cutting down on food waste, and holding the government and the food manufacturing and retailing industry responsible.

The organisation expresses that the urgent moment to take action, given the ongoing review of the National Policy on Food and Nutrition Security, South Africa's leadership of the G20, and the recent creation of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty under its banner.

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Grow Great's executive director and UAH steering committee member Dr. Edzani Mphaphuli emphasised the following:

"In a country where there is a surplus of food, it is unforgivable that so many people – especially the children – are on a spectrum of severe food vulnerability ranging from running out of money for food sometime during the month to millions of children going to sleep hungry every night."

She also added:

"That so many young children are stunted as a result of malnutrition is not only a source of severe suffering and indignity, it is also an existential threat to this country and, if urgent action is not taken, the situation will continue to escalate. As the UAH, our immediate focus will be on the resolution of demands that can make a rapid and significant difference to this gross injustice.”

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The UAH, initiated by organisations like HEALA, Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, Grow Great, and the University of the Western Cape, aims to rapidly expand leadership and build mass support.

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The UAH urges South Africa to combat hunger by halving child stunting by 2030, increasing Child Support Grants, extending ECD and school nutrition, making nutritious food affordable, ensuring small-scale agriculture, addressing seasonal hunger, halving food waste, introducing wealth taxes, and establishing a Ministry of Food.

Dr Busiso Moyo, UAH steering committee member, said:

"We have enough food, land and other resources as well as the knowledge on how to end hunger in South Africa. What is needed now is the collective will to act decisively and implement solutions that ensure no one goes to sleep hungry. It is time for bold, collaborative solutions and unwavering commitment from all sectors of society.”

SA’s food security declines as hunger levels rise

Briefly News previously reported that one in every 10 households experiences child hunger, while one in every four poor households has reported having children who go hungry.

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That’s one of the damning figures revealed in the South African Food Security Index 2024. Published by the Shoprite Group, the index is an in-depth report about food security in South Africa, which looked at the availability, accessibility, utilisation and stability of food in the country.

Source: Briefly News