Migrant Nutrition

The Lesotho Shepherds Who Became Gauteng’s Unexpected Organic Farming Pioneers

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Mountain Agriculture Meets Urban Health: The Complex Health Landscape of Lesotho’s Migrant Farmworkers in Gauteng Introduction: A Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight Across the agricultural belts surrounding Johannesburg and Pretoria, an estimated 350,000 Basotho migrants cultivate the food systems that sustain South Africa’s most urbanised province. Former mountain shepherds, seasonal harvesters, and, increasingly, innovators in […]

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From Machamba to Market Stall: Why Mozambican Farmers Are Following Their Tomatoes to Pretoria

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Cross-Border Farming and Pretoria’s Tomato Trade The Untold Story of How Organic Produce Is Reshaping Migration Patterns A Border-Crossing Food System in Motion In 2023, informal markets in Pretoria North and Marabastad recorded a visible rise in fresh tomatoes, leafy greens, and chillies traced back to southern Mozambique. At the same time, border authorities at

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How Does Overcrowded Housing in Informal Settlements Impact Migrant Health Outcomes?

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How Overcrowded Housing in Informal Settlements Impacts Migrant Health Outcomes in South Africa Infectious Disease Transmission • Mental Health • Maternal & Child Health 1. Introduction: When a Home Becomes a Health Risk In March 2024, “Amina,” a 28-year-old Somali woman living in Cape Town’s Philippi settlement, shared a simple worry: “At night we sleep

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Why Are Diabetes and Hypertension Rising Among African Migrants in South African Cities?

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Health Risks Rising: Diabetes and Hypertension in African Migrants A Compelling Start — Changing Lives, Growing Risks When 32‑year-old “Aisha” (pseudonym) moved from a rural district in Zimbabwe to Johannesburg in 2022, she believed she was chasing promise: work, education for her children, a better life. Over three years she shifted from walking long distances and

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What Are the Legal and Ethical Obligations for Vaccinating Undocumented Migrants in South Africa?

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Legal and Ethical Obligations for Vaccinating Undocumented Migrants in South Africa: Human Rights Frameworks, Public Health Priorities, and Policy Gaps A 32-year-old Zimbabwean woman, eight months pregnant, stands outside Hillbrow Clinic in Johannesburg. She carries her expired asylum seeker permit—rendered useless by bureaucratic delays at the Department of Home Affairs. Inside, a nurse turns her

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How Does Incomplete Vaccination Coverage Among Cross-Border Migrants Threaten Disease Outbreaks in South African Communities?

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Incomplete Vaccination Among Migrants and Disease Risks in South Africa Opening — a warning from 2025 In 2025, National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) data reported over 1,900 confirmed measles cases in South Africa by November, with the majority concentrated in urban provinces such as Gauteng. NICD+2IOL+2 Meanwhile, ongoing cross‑border migration — both regional and

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Are Migrant Children in South Africa Falling Through the Cracks of National Immunization Programs?

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Migrant Children and Immunisation Gaps in South Africa Opening: a worrying real-world snapshot When one thinks of immunisation in South Africa, the assumption is often that children — whoever they are — receive vaccines via the state’s well-established immunisation schedule. But for many migrant children, especially those whose parents are foreign nationals or undocumented, reality

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What Are the Ethical and Policy Implications of Excluding Non-Citizens from Food Security Interventions in South Africa?

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Excluding Non‑Citizens from Food Security in South Africa: Ethics and Policy Opening — A Case of Silent Hunger In late 2023, a family of Zimbabwean migrants living in a Johannesburg township reached out to a local NGO. The mother described how, after losing her informal‑sector job, her children went hungry for days because food parcels

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What Is the Impact of Climate Change and Food System Disruptions on African Migrant Livelihoods and Food Security in South Africa?

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Climate, Displacement and Hunger: Why Migrants in South Africa Are on the Frontline In 2023, a household survey in Gauteng found that migrant households in the region had markedly higher risk of food insecurity than native-born households — even after controlling for employment, household size, and other socioeconomic factors. Wiley Online LibraryAt the same time,

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What Are the Long-Term Health Implications of Dietary Acculturation for Second-Generation African Migrants in South Africa?

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Long-Term Health Implications of Dietary Acculturation for Second-Generation African Migrants in South Africa Introduction: Migration and Metabolic Risk Consider a hypothetical child, born in Johannesburg to parents who migrated from rural Limpopo. At home, the family still eats traditional meals such as maize porridge (pap), leafy greens, and pulses. Outside the home, at school and

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