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Original Research: Effects of rising food prices on household food security on femaleheaded households 2016;29(2) S Afr J Clin Nutr 6 Increased food insecurity and malnutrition may result, with tragic implications in the short and longterm, particularly for children, the aged, and other vulnerable members of society. In certain cases, the most adversely affected are the chronically urban and rural poor, the landless and femaleheaded households. 7 The ability of poor households to meet other important non-food expenses, such as education and health care, are limited by rising food prices. 8In Limpopo province, femaleheaded households spend an average of 53% of their total household income on food. 9 This confirms that poorer households, which are usually food insecure, spend a large fraction of their income on food. 9 The headline Consumer Price Index annual inflation rate in January 2013 was 5.4%. This rate was 0.3 of AbstractBackground: Rising food prices can have a devastating effect on the health of poor households by making it more difficult for them to afford basic food baskets. Although South Africa is food secure as a nation, it does not mean that every household is able to access nutritionally adequate food.

Appropriate feeding practices during infancy and early childhood are critical for a child's growth and development. [1,2] Breastfeeding provides optimal and complete nutrition during the first 6 months of a baby's life, offers immunologic benefits to the baby and contributes to the psychological relationship between the mother and child. [3,4] The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) therefore recommend that mothers breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months of their baby's life, [4] with nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods being introduced along with continued breastfeeding for up to 2 years. Although breastfeeding is widely practised in developing countries such as South Africa (SA), India and Indonesia, [5-8] previous studies have reported that exclusive breastfeeding is rare. [6-8] The majority of mothers in these settings are reported to introduce complementary liquids within the first 7 days of the infant's life. [6,7] This can be attributed to a lack of knowledge about infant feeding, cultural and socioeconomic factors and inconsistent advice given to new mothers. [9,10-13] According to Meyer et al. [14] and Black et al., [15] SA mothers tend to introduce food, tea and water fairly early while still breastfeeding. Infant feeding practices in SA differ from those conventionally seen in the rest of Africa, as the rate of breastfeeding is low and the use of formula milk is common. [14,16] A study by Mushaphi et al. [5] in villages around the Vhembe district of the Limpopo province of SA showed that 91.3% of infants were given both breastmilk and food, and 95.5% were fed a mixture of breastmilk and water. It is estimated that, globally, only 40% of babies are exclusively breastfed. [17] Knowledge of and a positive attitude towards breastfeeding do not necessarily translate to proper infant feeding practices, as shown by an earlier study from Nigeria. [18] Previous studies have reported mothers' perception of not having enough breastmilk, the return to work or school and poor knowledge about breastfeeding as factors that contribute to a low rate of exclusive breastfeeding. [5,19-21] Family and community pressure was also cited as notable reasons for mothers' early introduction of complementary foods, with previous studies showing that grandmothers or elderly women often advise mothers to introduce complementary foods as early as 1 month after birth owing to the perceived inadequate supply of breastmilk. [5,21,22] Even if mothers have adequate knowledge about infant feeding, a lack of independent decision-making can result in poor infant feeding practices. [23-25] The objective of this study was to determine the level of knowledge about breastfeeding and the associated practice among mothers of children younger than 24 months in rural areas of the Limpopo province, SA. It was conducted as a follow-up to a 2004 study in the province's Vhembe district, which investigated infant feeding practices and the associated nutritional status of children younger ...

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