Food Insecurity/Access to Nutrition
LEGEND: RED - FOOD INSECURE YELLOW - MODERATELY FOOD INSECURE GREEN - FOOD SECURE
Defined as a lack of access to enough food to live an active, healthy lifestyle. It often results from a lack of financial
Figure 3: FAO Hunger Map 2015 - World. ReliefWeb. Accessed March 1, 2021. https://reliefweb.int/map/world/fao-hunger-map-2015
resources. Unlike hunger, which is measured at the individual level, food insecurity is measured at the household level.
Major Causes
"1 in 4 households globally experienced moderate to severe food insecurity [in 2020]" - NPR
Who is Affected? Anyone can be affected but most affected populations in US are... 1. Seniors
Efforts to Combat Food Insecurity: Reduce food waste
2. Children
Plant crops that require less water
3. African Americans
Close the agricultural yield gap
4. Rural Communities
(through better utilization of land)
5. Latinos
National and International programs: 1. Feeding America
Figure 2: Misselhorn A, Hendriks S. A systematic review of sub-national food insecurity research in South Africa: Missed opportunities for policy insights. PLOS ONE. 2017;12:e0182399.
Most affected global regions (as seen in
2. The World Food Program
map):
3. Action Against Hunger
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0182399
1. Central to Southern Africa
Effects of Food Insecurity:
2. Southern Asia 3. Central America
- Prevents growth and learning in children - Leads to chronic diseases and health complications - Nutritional deficiencies
"In my opinion, lack of resources is not a problem that leads to food insecurity, but rather lack of ability to effectively distribute the resources world wide. There is enough food produced in the world, but only certain populations get the food, and unfortunately, most of the remaining food is wasted rather than distributed to the remaining populations."
- Lexi Zavitsky