Negotiating Life before Birth and Scavenging for Survival: Unveiling the Hidden Consequences of Child Malnutrition in Rural South Africa

A qualitative study using ethnographic research tools such as life histories, observations and interviews, captured the lives of 300 women and their children in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa , who face hunger and malnutrition. The research noticed how the problem of child malnutrition has been a continued issues since 2018, when the department of health in the province, first published its data on acute child malnutrition in some of the Eastern Cape districts. Today, on the after mouth of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire province has been labeled by the human rights commission as a child unfriendly province, advocating for real efforts by the government to address acute child malnutrition. The research noted data from organizations like Operation Hunger, Statistics South Africa and UNICEF on the current state of child malnutrition, like 4.6% in severe malnutrition, 5,4% in low births weights, 21% overweight and 24.8% in stunting. Even though a lot has been spoken and written on the physical indicators of malnutrition to children, less has been addressed on hidden consequences of child manutention and this paper addresses such long-term hidden consequences of child malnutrition, such as physical growth, cognitive development and emotional and social development. The research presented here has used the mastery of sociological imagination to connect the drivers of child malnutrition in the province with current interventions on ground, while addressing the hidden long-term consequences of child malnutrition as a growing disaster in rural South Africa