{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T02:56:21Z","timestamp":1781232981349,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781136000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Women remain the primary caregivers globally, especially in rural, low-resource settings plagued by poverty, unemployment, low education and poor infrastructure. These factors limit caregiving capacity, heighten vulnerability and increase the risk of food insecurity in female-headed households. Objective: To establish a baseline profile of caregivers of primary school children. Methods: Phase 1 (baseline) of the study was conducted using a quantitative, exploratory cross-sectional survey design among 75 female caregivers of children aged 7\u201313 years in Qwa-Qwa, Free State Province. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling. Data were collected with a structured, pre-validated questionnaire on socio-demographics, alongside anthropometric measurements. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: Most participants were unemployed (73.3%) and had low educational attainment, with 86.7% having completed primary school or less. A substantial proportion of households (80.0%) reported a monthly income below R1000. Food insecurity was common, with 69.3% of caregivers reporting experiences of food shortages. Household infrastructure was limited, particularly in refuse removal services (96.0% without access). Despite these socio-economic constraints, a high prevalence of overweight and obesity (72.5%) was observed amongst the participants. Conclusions: Caregivers experience severe, overlapping socio-economic and environmental vulnerabilities alongside a high prevalence of overweight and obesity. The study highlights the need for multi-sectoral interventions focused on poverty reduction, rural infrastructure development, improved service delivery, women\u2019s empowerment and strengthened livelihood opportunities to improve household nutrition and resilience.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu18121898","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T01:52:08Z","timestamp":1781229128000},"page":"1898","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Socio-Demographic and Anthropometric Findings of Women Caregivers in Qwa-Qwa, Free State Province, South Africa"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3863-4135","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Queen E. M.","family":"Mangwane","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Hospitality Management, Faculty of Management Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria 0001, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0303-6319","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abdulkadir","family":"Egal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Tourism & Integrated Communication, Faculty of Human Sciences, Vaal University of Technology, Vanderbijlpark 1900, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7570-270X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Delia","family":"Oosthuizen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Tourism & Integrated Communication, Faculty of Human Sciences, Vaal University of Technology, Vanderbijlpark 1900, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e70058","DOI":"10.1111\/mcn.70058","article-title":"Caregiver nutrition and nurturing care: A scoping review","volume":"21","author":"Smith","year":"2025","journal-title":"Matern. 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