Wade Pendleton

The Crisis of Food Insecurity in African Cities

Rapid urbanization and increasing urban poverty are shifting the historical locus of food insecurity from the rural areas to the cities of Africa. This article uses data from the African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN) baseline survey carried out in 11 cities in 9 southern African countries in 2008–2009 to demonstrate the existence of extremely high levels of urban food insecurity. The lack of access to food is primarily the result of household poverty, high unemployment, and limited income-generating opportunities rather than any absolute food shortages. The article also shows the growing importance of supermarkets, and the relative insignificance of urban agriculture in the food sourcing strategies of the urban poor.

The Disengagement of the South African Medical Diaspora in Canada

Conventional wisdom holds that the ‘brain drain’ of health professionals from Africa is deeply damaging to the continent. Recently, a group of North American and European neoliberal economists has challenged this view, variously arguing that the negative consequences are highly exaggerated and the compensating benefits many. The benefits include various forms of diaspora engagement in which those who have left then engage in a variety of activities and actions that bring substantial benefits to their country of origin. This article examines the case of South African physicians in Canada to test this argument. The study on which the article is based found that these physicians constitute a profoundly disengaged diaspora. The quantitative evidence shows that while they continue to assert a South African identity and take some interest in events in the country, they do not participate significantly in any of the activities that typify diaspora engagement. The article then uses the qualitative narratives of the physicians to discuss how they justify this situation to themselves. As we show, at the heart of these narratives is a dystopic set of images that show nothing of value and nothing praiseworthy in post-apartheid South Africa.

The Brain Drain Potential of Students in the African Health and Nonhealth Sectors

The departure of health professionals to Europe and North America is placing an intolerable burden on public health systems in many African countries. Various retention, recall, and replacement policies to ameliorate the impact of this brain drain have been suggested, none of which have been particularly successful to date. The key question for the future is whether the brain drain of health sector skills is likely to continue and whether the investment of African countries in training health professionals will continue to be lost through emigration. This paper examines the emigration intentions of trainee health professionals in six Southern African countries. The data was collected by the Southern African Migration Program (SAMP) in a survey of final-year students across the region which included 651 students training for the health professions. The data also allows for the comparison of health sector with other students. The analysis presented in this paper shows very high emigration potential amongst all final-year students. Health sector students do show a slightly higher inclination to leave than those training to work in other sectors. These findings present a considerable challenge for policy makers seeking to encourage students to stay at home and work after graduation.

Migration, Rural-Urban Linkages and Food Insecurity

This chapter focuses specifically on the linkages between migration and food insecurity in a rapidly-growing city. Windhoek has experienced significant rural-urban migration in recent years, especially since Namibia’s independence in 1990. Many migrants have settled in the northern and north-western areas of the city, primarily in the informal housing areas. Most of the migrant households are poor, food-insecure and female-centred. In an effort to mitigate their insecure food situation, they make use of various strategies including receiving food transfers, obtaining food from informal markets, and other informal methods.

Food Insecurity, Poverty and Informality

Although Mozambique has one of Africa’s fastest growing formal economies, its informal economy has remained extremely dynamic and resilient. This is particularly evident in the capital, Maputo where over 75 % of the economically-active population are estimated to be in informal employment. The informal sector plays a critical role in the urban food system of Maputo and is the major supplier of food to households in Maputo’s poverty belt, where the majority of the population lives. This chapter therefore focuses on the relationship between the levels of household food insecurity in Maputo and the informal food system. Using data from AFSUN’s baseline survey in the city, the chapter demonstrates that the poverty belt is characterised by high levels of food insecurity but that the informal economy plays a critical role in making food accessible to poor urban households. Without the ability to access food from informal sources, households would be significantly worse off than they already are.