Article Sidebar
Published:
Mar 29, 2023Keywords:
Syndemic; food environment; climate change; nutrition
Article Details
Issue
Section
Invited Commentary
Copyright is retained by the authors who grant the publisher, the Academy of Science of South Africa, a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide licence to publish their work.
Main Article Content
Commentary on South Africa’s syndemic of undernutrition, obesity, and climate change
Agnes Erzse
Adam Balusik
Petronell Kruger
Evelyn Thsehla
Boyd Swinburn
Karen J. Hofman
Abstract
The 2019 Lancet Commission on Obesity describes the clustering of three global problems – undernutrition, obesity, and climate change – as the Global Syndemic. The syndemic holds major health and economic consequences for South African individuals, their families and society as a whole. In this Commentary, we discuss how the syndemic presents itself in South Africa, how it arises in the context of the broader food system, and what can be done about it.
