Nutrition and health in South Africa: The state of nutrition and the development of nutrition policy

Abstract

The period preceding the April 1994 elections offers an opportunity for significant contributions to be made in policy formulation in key areas of social and economic concern. Situational analyses in particular areas such as health and education offer the platform on which to base such policies. It is with these notions in mind that this report concentrates on health and nutrition policy issues in particular, given the widespread efforts to collect data (in the broader study of which this report forms just one component) on the many-faceted nature of poverty in contemporary South Africa. This chapter sets out the aims and objectives of the study as outlined in the preface, and against the preconceptions articulated above.