"No, we can’t”: what will it take to change the “lack of” chant?

Abstract

The paper by Schoeman et al published in this issue of the SAJCN makes for bleak reading. The picture presented is of under-resourced rural clinics, lacking basic facilities such as water and toilets (never-mind telephones), with poorly trained staff who considered themselves overworked, and who believed that the solution to many of the prevalent childhood conditions was caregiver education, but evidently expended little effort offering any. The population of parents and caregivers served consisted largely of poor, single unemployed women claiming limited home food security, yet almost half were overweight or obese. Although the study is dated (conducted in 2003), many of its findings are likely to be as valid today.