Making the most of a good start: How to help families get all the nutrients they need

HANDS-ON Experience Learning July 2026 | Issue 34

OPPORTUNITY

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Stop nutritional stunting of young children

MAKING THE MOST OF A GOOD START HOW TO HELP FAMILIES GET ALL THE NUTRIENTS THEY NEED To capitalise on the power of nutrition in early life, families need sustained and reliable access to nutrient-dense food through diverse diets that include enough protein, and all the vitamins and minerals needed for healthy growth. But protein-rich foods and fresh vegetables and fruit are often out of financial reach for many households; they tend to be more expensive than staples such as cereals or maize, or nutrientpoor ultra-processed foods. Although the Child Support Grant is a much-needed poverty alleviation tool, and an increasing number of children have benefited from it over the years, South Africa’s stunting rate remains stubbornly high. This tells us that we also need additional strategies to increase lowincome households’ access to nutritious food.

This third learning brief in a series focused on childhood nutrition looks at broad interventions that can help improve people’s nutritional status, such as making nutritious food cheaper through retail subsidies, large-scale food fortification and helping people grow their own food.

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MAKING THE MOST OF A GOOD START HOW TO HELP FAMILIES GET ALL THE NUTRIENTS THEY NEED

Issue 34 /// July 2026

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Making the most of a good start: How to help families get all the nutrients they need

Published on Jul 7, 2026

DG Murray Trust

Even the best-targeted interventions in the first 1 000 days rest on something more basic — families being able to get nutritious food onto the plate, day after day. And this is where many households hit a wall. The nutrient-dense diets young children need, with enough protein and all the vitamins and minerals for healthy growth, depend on foods that are often out of financial reach. Protein-rich foods, fresh vegetables and fruit tend to cost more than staples like maize and cereals, or the nutrient-poor ultra-processed foods that fill the gap. The Child Support Grant is a vital poverty alleviation tool, and more children draw on it every year, yet South Africa's stunting rate has barely shifted. That tells us the early-life window can only do so much on its own: we also need to widen the lens from the individual child to the household around them, and tackle what makes nutritious food unaffordable in the first place. This third brief in the series looks at broad interventions that lift a whole household's n