AUTHOR=Vermeulen Hester , Meyer Ferdinand , Schönfeldt Hettie C. 

TITLE=A basic healthy food basket approach to evaluate the affordability of healthy eating in South Africa and Kenya

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1181683

DOI=10.3389/fsufs.2023.1181683

ISSN=2571-581X

ABSTRACT=Introduction: Understanding the affordability of healthy eating has always been a critical question but has escalated in importance considering the global context of more recent soaring food prices and the worsening of food and nutrition security indicators since the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cost and affordability of basic healthy eating in South Africa and Kenya, through the application of a Basic Healthy Food Basket (BHFB) modelling framework applied within the food intake and nutritional context of the target countries.
Methods: The construction of the BHFB models was based on a number of key considerations (i.e. ‘building blocks)’: household demographic (size and composition), socio-economically disaggregated household income levels, minimum wage data, typical food intake patterns, nationally monitored food retail prices and official country-specific nutrient intake and food consumption guidelines.
Results: The reference family was defined as a four-member household (2 adults and 2 children). The national BHFB’s covered all the food groups according to nutritional guidelines and had adequate nutritional adequacy. In January 2023 the cost of the national BHFB in Kenya and South Africa amounted to KSh33 800 (US$270) and R4 715 (US$ 262) respectively, – potentially excluding approximately 60% of the population from being able to afford a basic healthy food basket. A movement to ‘more plant-based’ BHFB’s resulted in a 15% saving.
Conclusions and recommendations: The study showed that the high (and rising) cost of basic healthy eating prevents large numbers of households in South Africa and Kenya from being able to afford basic healthy eating. Such regular monitoring could inform food and nutrition policy decisions and actions. Data availability challenges are discussed regarding food prices, household demographics, household income, food intake data and food intake data. The study identified the critical need to evaluate the cost of basic healthy eating on a geographically more refined level, motivated by food intake pattern diversity between regions in countries. However, future research to develop an improved understanding of food intake patterns in different regions/provinces/counties will be a critical enabler, along with geographically disaggregated retail food price data and demographical information.