Mmegi

The right to food: Botswana’s unfulfilled promise

Basic needs: Quality nutrition is a perennial challenge throughout Africa PEOPLESIMAGES.COM
Basic needs: Quality nutrition is a perennial challenge throughout Africa PEOPLESIMAGES.COM

The country is debating the establishment of a Constitutional Court. Others want the right to health included in the Constitution, given the ongoing crisis. Mothers, meanwhile, are struggling just to simply feed their children. NNASARETHA KGAMANYANE writes

With food prices soaring and unemployment rampant, Olerato Montsho’s story is a stark reminder of Botswana's crippling food insecurity crisis."I'm forced to buy whatever is cheapest," says Montsho* her eyes welling up with tears. "My son is always sick, and I know it is because he is not eating right."

Montsho's plight is a familiar one in Botswana, where 49.4% of the population faces moderate to severe food insecurity. The country's reliance on imports and lack of investment in local agriculture has worsened the problem over the years.

Editor's Comment
Let's show compassion to baby Asli

Her story is heartbreaking not only because she is fighting for her life at such a tender age, but because her parents have spent months navigating a medical journey filled with uncertainty, delays, and rising fear.What began as something that seemed as simple as jaundice has escalated into a life-threatening condition that now requires an urgent liver transplant.For Asli’s parents, the reality is devastating. They are not asking for luxuries...

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