We all have the right to affordable and nutritious food. HEALA campaigns to ensure that all South Africans have access to healthy food.
Campaigns
Learn about our work on the health promotion levy and front of package warning labels for food.
Get Involved
You can help! Find out how to get involved in our digital and community campaigns.
Campaigns
Learn about our work on the health promotion levy and front of package warning labels for food.
Get Involved
You can help! Find out how to get involved in our digital and community campaigns.
HEALA’s mission is to create a platform for communities to organise and mobilise around policy and the realisation of the right to affordable, nutritious food.
HEALA is a coalition of civil society organisations that advocates for equitable access to affordable and nutritious food for all in South Africa.
Section 27(1)(b) of the South African Constitution guarantees all the right to sufficient food and commits the state to the progressive realisation of this right. Additionally, Section 28(1)(c) states that every child has the right to basic nutrition, shelter, basic health care services and social services.
Yet, today South Africa’s poor communities bear the brunt of the country’s unequal food system. Affordable, nutritious food is hard to come by. As a result, poor communities experience high levels of hunger as well as high levels of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, some of the country’s leading causes of death.
Because government policy forms a crucial part of South Africa’s food system, HEALA believes that hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition are policy choices.
That’s why we work with a range of civil society organisations to advocate for government to ensure the food system is better regulated and that policies meant to curb hunger are working for the communities that need them.
Our Campaigns
HEALA advances the right to food by advocating for more just food systems in South Africa through policy changes. HEALA’s campaigns focus on improving food regulation, hunger alleviation measures and industry accountability.
Our two main campaigns focus on pushing for the increase of the health promotion levy (“sugar tax”) to 20% to align with World Health Organisation guidelines and the introduction of front-of-package warning labels to help South Africans make more informed nutrition decisions.
We also campaign to hold big food producers accountable to the law, promote transparency and we want to create greater public awareness of the importance of nutrition in health. Finally, to address hunger we advocate for an increase of the Child Support Grant and the introduction of a Basic Income Grant.
News
Who is HEALA?
HEALA is a coalition of civil society organisations that advocate for equitable access to affordable, nutritious food in South Africa by building a more just food system.
Open letter: Conflict of Interest at the Third Biennial Conference of the African Research University Alliance
Open letter to: Member Universities and Centres of Excellence within ARUA 23 November 2021 RE: CONFLICT OF INTEREST AT THE THIRD BIENNIAL CONFERENCE OF THE …
NEDLAC-commissioned report backs South Africa’s “sugar tax”
A recently leaked report on the health promotion levy’s economic impacts affirms that the levy can play an important role in financing healthcare in South …
#NotTodayNestlé: Food giant Nestlé flouts SA law. Again.
12 August 2021 Food giant Nestlé flouts SA law. Again. Food and beverage company Nestlé’s latest marketing campaign violates long-standing national health department regulations meant …
New Health Minister Dr. Joe Phaahla has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform South Africa’s food policies
New Health Minister Dr. Joe Phaahla has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform South Africa’s food policies 06 August 2021 The Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA) welcomes …
The evolution to healthy eating
Food is fuel, but this concept is relatively new to me. I wasn’t always conscious of what I ate and I would often wolf down food because …
Learn from ordinary South Africans how you can lead a healthier lifestyle
HEALA
We are guided by our mission to improve the health of an increasingly obese South Africa through our campaigns. Empowering people to make healthy food and lifestyle choices is our priority.
This is what consumers will pay for a basic food basket in South Africa
www.capetownetc.com
Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group (PMBEJD) recently released the latest food price data that reveals how food prices have dropped over the last month in Johannesburg, while Durban ha...
R4BN UNDERWRITING EFFORT: Zimbabwe’s Rudland family effectively wins control over Tongaat Hulett
www.dailymaverick.co.za
In a closely fought contest, South Africa Inc decided to roll with the money and toss corporate governance to the wind, effectively handing control over sugar producer Tongaat Hulett to the Zimbabwean...
www.dailymaverick.co.za
Maverick Citizen continues its investigation into the food and beverage industry. This time we spotlight unscrupulous industry advertising practices targeting children, and their harmful effects. This...
If we want to stop the epidemic of diabetes, hypertension and other diet-related NCDs, then we must intervene early to protect children from the marketing of foods that are harmful to their health
#StopTheSlowViolenceOfMalnutrition
@FoodSecurity_za @FoodPolitics_SA @cap2030org https://twitter.com/heala_SA/status/1484085528123301888
13% of South African children under five are already overweight or obese, according to children’s rights advocate @lorilakethetha of @CIatUCT. A big driver behind this is poor regulation of food advertising practices, which target children.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-17-child-targets-south-africa-faces-an-obesity-related-health-catastrophe-linked-to-poor-regulation-of-food-advertising/
Healthier Food Democracy @heala_SA
@IncubatorGHAI @heartjamaica
@hsfbarbados
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-24-can-south-africa-legislate-its-way-out-of-its-crushing-double-burden-of-malnutrition-and-into-a-healthier-food-democracy-part-three/
#SouthAfrica
Are you sceptical about your negative/positive Covid-19 test result? @PHMSA1 shares the facts you need to put your mind at ease on the effectiveness of different Covid-19 tests.
2Global food prices have hit a 10-year high, with SA consumers paying 6.8% more for their groceries than a year ago. Adjustments in #foodpolicy are crucial not only for the stabilisation of prices, but more fundamentally for transformation of #foodsystems.
https://www.capetownetc.com/news/this-is-what-consumers-will-pay-for-a-basic-food-basket-in-south-africa/
Activists and analysts have identified a worrying trend of business people developing close relationships with governments. The Rudland family of Zimbabwe, who have now taken over sugar producer Tongaat Hulett, are one of those.
Read more at the link.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-18-zimbabwes-rudland-family-effectively-wins-control-over-tongaat-hulett/