Shoprite and Partners Launch Nutrition Pilot to Fight Child Stunting in the Western Cape
Pilot groups of undernourished women in the Western Cape are now receiving free food from their local grocery store in an effort to help prevent child stunting.
The pilot groups are made up of pregnant women at risk of delivering low birthweight babies, and mothers of low birthweight babies.
The intervention, that also includes a care component in the form of high-dose community health worker visits, is a collaboration involving Shoprite, the Western Cape Government and the DG Murray Trust (DGMT), a Cape Town-based public innovator.It comes amid growing concern about the level of countrywide malnutrition and extreme poverty, with approximately 55% of people living in the Western Cape experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity according to the 2023 National Food and Nutrition Security Survey.
As of July, eligible women in the pilot areas can use a normal shopping loyalty card to access a free ‘basket’ of 10 foods specifically selected for their high nutrient content up to the value of R525.
The benefit is loaded onto the loyalty card in the form of a virtual ‘coupon’ that can be redeemed at selected Shoprite stores, following enrolment into the programme at a health care facility in the Breede Valley, Khayelitsha, and Mitchell’s Plain – the three pilot sites.
The ‘Khulisa Care’ project targets women with low birthweight babies or at risk of having LBW babies. LBW babies are three times more likely to be stunted at six months and two years, according to the findings of a recent Western Cape survey. Households living in poverty struggle to meet their daily nutritional needs.
Mothers who are breastfeeding often have higher energy needs — and if they can’t afford enough food, they may struggle to produce enough milk or continue exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of a child's life.
More than a quarter of South Arican children under five are stunted (when a child is too short for their age – a manifestation of chronic malnutrition that affects cognitive and physical growth), and 14% of babies are born LBW.
“In the pilot, undernourished pregnant women, women at high-risk of delivering LBW babies, and mothers of babies born LBW receive R525 monthly food vouchers (ring-fenced for protein-rich staples they can buy at Shoprite) alongside structured community health worker visits for growth monitoring, breastfeeding support and counselling,” explained Liezel Engelbrecht, Nutrition Lead for the Hold My Hand Accelerator, an initiative incubated by the DG Murray Trust.
Hold My Hand is a national campaign of action for children and teens in support of the National Strategy to Accelerate Action for Children (NSAAC). The NSAAC calls on all of society to prioritise children. The project hopes to generate evidence for it to be scaled countrywide, potentially with help from other investors and retailers.
However, the pilot will begin with about1700 women, identified through specific clinical entry criteria in public health facilities in Mitchell’s Plain, Khayelitsha and Worcester.
The benefits for the mother will continue until the baby is six months old. Depending on when they enter the programme, beneficiaries will receive the food voucher and top-up community health visit support for between six months to a year,
The ten protein-rich foods included in their monthly benefit include eggs, tinned fish, soya mince, fortified maize, peanut butter, and long-life milk. A recipe book has been developed to help advise participating on the importance of protein- and nutrient-rich foods and tips on prepare meals with the items.
“While a variety of factors influences food security and child stunting, cross-sector collaboration and action-driven strategies are critical tools to help fight hunger and improve access to nutrition,” commented Shoprite in a project launch press release last month.