WHO
regards hunger and malnutrition as the gravest threat to public health, and
climate change threatens to further destabilize already fragile food-production
systems. The tragic fact is that, although our planet produces enough food for
everyone, one person in seven still goes to bed hungry each night. 25 000
people die every day—including one child every 5 seconds—from hunger-related
causes. Hunger is a challenge to human dignity and human rights. But hunger is
also a threat to security and stability, and to the ability of nations to
prosper socially and economically. Most deaths from hunger do not occur in
high-profile emergencies but in unnoticed crises, in areas and populations that
are the most destitute and vulnerable. The poorest and most marginalized
people—the so-called bottom billion—cling to survival on less than US$1 a day,
often below the level at which development work can meaningfully begin. Natural
disasters, climatic shocks, conflict, and insecurity are major causes of
hunger. But hunger’s root causes are tied to a lack of access by individuals to
the resources they need to produce, sell, and buy food. Much of the world lacks
the ability to move food from an area of abundance to one of deficit.
The
concept of the nutrition transition focuses on large shifts in diet and
activity patterns, especially their structure and overall composition. These
changes are reflected in nutritional outcomes, such as changes in average
stature and body composition. This shift toward increased obesity and
non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is only the latest pattern of this transition.
There are five patterns of the nutrition transition: collecting food, famine,
receding famine, degenerative disease and behavioral change. The underlying
forces are (1) globalization, (2) global agricultural policies, and (3) global
mass media.
The
rise of the obesity epidemic seemed to begin almost concurrently in most
high-income countries in the 1970s and 1980s since then, most middle-income and
many low-income countries have joined the global surge in obesity prevalence in
adults and children. In low-income and middle-income countries, groups of high
socioeconomic status in urban areas tend to be the first to have high obesity
prevalence, but the burden of obesity shifts to low socioeconomic status groups
and rural areas as a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) increases. The
disability attributable to obesity and its consequences was calculated in 2004
at more than 36 million disability-adjusted life-years, with obesity accounting
for between 2% and 6% of total health-care costs in many countries.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI always feel like I learn so much from reading your posts. I love the historical insight you bring. Food insecurity is something I am very interested in because as a nurse, it can be a struggle to help a patient make diet changes when they lack access to nutritious food, or any food at all. The fact that we have the ability to feed everyone and yet people are still hungry is astonishing and of course leads one to ask why. Your connection to obesity is interesting… People have always been hungry, and yet the rise of obesity is fairly new. In the work I was doing with Voices for Food, they were trying to make healthier food options for food pantry users. Do you think this is appropriate? Is there a direct link between obesity and hunger? Are hungry people pushed toward unhealthy food choices, or do you think another cause is more appropriate to blame for obesity? I’d love to hear more about this in our class on hunger next week!
Hi Lisa and Chris,
ReplyDeleteChris I like the patterns your brought up here from this week's readings on food insecurity. Lisa, the more appropriate cause to blame for obesity is our sedentary lifestyles and poor use of technology. If you take a look at the patterns associated around obesity, it is safe to say that we are no longer hunter and gatherers and we no longer use physical labor as we use to in many societies that obesity is on the rise. In fact, perhaps education has something to do with this as well where the connection between healthier food options for similar and cheaper prices (i.e. sacks of rice and beans vs. one time shop at a fast-food chain) coupled with exercise and healthy lifestyle choices are where the interventions need to be had. Also, I like your point on food pantry users. Perhaps the question needs to come from who are making the options available in these pantries? Is it the donors or the organization itself? What are other cost effective solutions to provide healthier options for such users such as farming crops and vegetables where food pantry users can have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. This all gives proof to the idea that our approaches thus far are not working and maybe its time to rethink HOW we are doing things and start creating actionable, sustainable moves forward.
Chris
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy your posts! I loved the way you integrated our readings this week regarding huger, obesity and food insecurity in such a perfect way.
I agree with you Amy in that obesity is an outcome of the globalized world. Bad usage of technology, sedentary life style and work environment in addition to the availablity of more financially affordable unhealthy fast food choices versus the high cost healthier food choices.
In my opinion, individual level intervention by targeting behavior change in the presence of such structural barriers will result in relapses. Public polices need to be included in the equation in order to get more sustinable interventions.