Challenges Encountered in a South African School Nutrition Programme

Abstract

Background: School Nutritional Programmes (SNP) provide meals at school to reduce hunger, nutrient deficiencies and improve class alertness among children in poor communities. The purpose of the research was to determine the challenges encountered in implementing the SNP in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa in 2017.Design and methods: A cross-sectional study underpinned by a concurrent triangulation research design where interviews were used to collect qualitative data from stakeholders, and a questionnaire collected quantitative data from students. The set of qualitative data was thematically analysed. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey HSD test were used to compare the mean scores for food quality on different days of the week.Results: Both the quality and quantity of food were affected by delays in payment of food suppliers, lack of training of stakeholders, and poor kitchen facilities. Health problems experienced by students after eating the food made them reluctant to consume meals on some days. The Tukey HSD test indicated that the mean score for the quality of food served on Wednesday (3.2±1.3) was significantly higher than the mean score for the quality of the meal served on Friday (2.5±1.3).Conclusions: Late payment of food-suppliers and inadequate training of food-handlers affected the quality and quantity of the meals. The researcher recommends that the programme administrators should improve the frequency of payment for food suppliers, training of food handlers, and find alternative meals for students who do not consume the regular meals due to various reasons.

Comparison of Malnutrition Indicators and Associated Socio-Demographic Factors among Children in Rural and Urban Public Primary Schools in South Africa

“…School children's diets are mainly based on starches and lack dietary diversity, which is persistent in some rural communities in South Africa due to poverty [77]. Implementation of the NSNP in South Africa has been challenged by poor infrastructure, such as the absence of kitchens in some schools [39,48,78] as well as the absence of storage, preparation, cooking and eating facilities that meet health and safety standards in schools [47,48,78]. The lack of parental involvement in the implementation of the NSNP, working together with educators, is another issue [49].…”

“…Children attending public schools in quintiles 1 to 3 (i.e., schools ranked as the poorest or lowest in terms of socio-economic status) receive school meals through the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP). The NSNP is a government initiative that commenced in 1994 and is designed to address barriers to learning associated with hunger and malnutrition by providing nutritious meals [39,40]. School age is a critical stage for growth spurts among children affected by suboptimal food intake, access, and distribution as well as pathogenic infections, making them vulnerable to malnutrition [41].…”

“…In terms of NSNP efforts, it seems the program is clouded by challenges regarding food quantity and quality, irregular food supply, a lack of diet variety, the bureaucratic system, a lack of uniform procurement issues in provinces, and corruption and theft [39,[47][48][49]. At the same time, the school food and nutrition environment in South Africa is still not conducive for promoting healthy eating and meeting nutritional requirements, exacerbating malnutrition as a public health challenge in school children [10,50].…”

Prospects and Pitfalls Experienced by Social Workers Working in a Confounding Environment in a South African Setting

“…13 of 2006 of South Africa [11]. Further, the government through the Department of Social Development in cohort with the Ministry of Primary Education continues to ensure that virtually all the children in public schools are offered meals [12]. This is to offset the effects of poverty among the families to ensure that all children can engage in education [13].…”

Teacher awareness of psychosocial support available as per the Integrated School Health Policy in South Africa

“…dimensionally poor(Stats SA 2018). Additionally, children coming from households of adverse living conditions suffer from malnutrition, due to which 18% of South African school students present with stunted growth, 9.3% are underweight, 20% are overweight and 5.34% fall under the category of obese(Labadarios et al 2005;Mafugu 2021;Okeyo et al 2020). …”