By Nomfundo Mbuli, HEALA 

We live in a country where children can eat every day and still go hungry. This is the shocking reality facing many South African households today. Cheap, ultra-processed foods have become the most affordable and accessible option for struggling families.  

This contradiction should alarm all of us. 

According to UNICEF, around 23% of South African children live in severe food poverty. This means they consume food from only one or two food groups a day and are at significantly higher risk of malnutrition and developmental delays. At the same time, communities are seeing rising levels of childhood obesity, stunting and diet-related illness existing side by side. Furthermore, the percentage of overweight and obesity in children under 5 years rose from 13% in 2016 to 23% in 2024.  

Availability of ultra-processed food

The proliferation of cheap, unhealthy ultra-processed food means that a small packet of crisps from a spaza shop or street vendor costs as little as R3–R5, while a single piece of fruit (a banana or apple) can cost the same or more at a formal retailer. A nutritious home-cooked meal for a child costs considerably more. For many families, the math is stark: ultra-processed snacks are cheaper, closer, and more readily available than fresh food. 

 In one neighbourhood I drive through regularly, children stop after school to buy brightly colored sweets, sugary drinks and cheap snacks from informal traders. Among them is a mother whose two young boys spend most days beside her, eating the same food she sells.  

Across South Africa, millions of households are under immense economic pressure. Social grants remain a critical lifeline for many families, yet rising food prices, unemployment and inequality continue to push nutritious food further out of reach. For many households, the priority is no longer healthy eating; it is about survival.  

This is not about blaming parents, caregivers or informal traders. It is about confronting the reality of a food system that continues to fail poor communities. However, survival should not come at the cost of health and dignity. 

Children are growing up in environments where unhealthy food is often the cheapest, most available and most aggressively marketed option. Families are expected to make better choices in a system where healthier options remain unaffordable or inaccessible for many communities. 

Regulating marketing

Research shows that marketing has a powerful influence on children’s food choices, eating habits, and long-term health. Research consistently shows that children who are exposed to advertising for unhealthy foods are more likely to prefer, request, and consume those products. 

Regulations like the R3337, which proposes the banning of advertising of unhealthy food to children, are necessary interventions to start shifting the flood of unhealthy food into the lives of the most vulnerable.  

As South Africa works toward the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 2: Zero Hunger by 2030, we must move beyond narrow definitions of hunger that focus only on whether food is available. 

Food justice means ensuring that everyone, regardless of income, can access affordable, nutritious food and live in environments that do not profit from poor health. 

At HEALA, we believe meaningful change requires stronger food policies, healthier food environments and greater accountability from industries that continue to profit while poor communities carry the burden of poor nutrition and diet-related disease. This includes stronger regulation of unhealthy food marketing to children, clearer front-of-pack warning labels and policies that make healthier foods more accessible and affordable. 

We cannot continue placing the responsibility for healthy eating solely on caregivers while unhealthy foods remain cheaper, more available and more heavily promoted than nutritious alternatives. 

No community should be forced to survive on the cheapest and most harmful food options simply because healthier alternatives remain out of reach. 

Hunger is not inevitable. It is shaped by policy choices, economic inequality and food systems that continue to fail the people who need protection the most. 

Our children are already telling us something is wrong and they deserve better than what is being given to them.   

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Nomfundo Mbuli is the Programmes Manager at Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA).  

The views and opinions expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author, who is not employed by Health-e News. Health-e News is committed to presenting diverse perspectives to enrich public discourse on health-related issues.