Food Insecurity In Australia

As stated by the World Health Organization (WHO), ‘health’ is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1948). The health and wellbeing of individuals is generally determined by their circumstances and environment, a phenomenon referred to as the social determinants of health. WHO describes the social determinants of health as:

But over the past few decades, the definititon and concept of health has evolved to encompass more elements than just the physical well-being of a person. This is partly attributed to various researches and studies that have taken place around the world in the last 60 years. Already in 1948, the World Health Organization declared that health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not

This bivariate analysis examined the comparisons and similarities between food insecure and food secure households in Canada. Data was collected using Health Canada’s variation of the Household Food Security Survey Module, which identified that 15% of all food insecure households represent a higher socioeconomic background. The public health significance surrounding food insecurity is not limited to Canada, as 29% of households in the United States report 185% above the national poverty line. Incorporating perspectives from only these

In our course of study we have learned the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary prevention levels. Primary prevention is aimed at preventing or reducing the effects on populations. Primary prevention occurs when we educate our patients, families or the community, providing them with the tool of knowledge needed to prevent illness. My project on food insecurity promotes primary prevention in university students by attempting to identify those students experiencing food insecurity, then providing those students with the resources to obtaining supplemental food within their community.

Residents of rural and remote communities tend to experience poorer health outcomes than those in the metropolitan area (Humphreys & Walkerman, 2008). The fact that the high proportion of Indigenous Australians, which increases with remoteness, reflects the lag in Indigenous health outcomes (Humphreys & Walkerman, 2008).

Living in a remote area has always been thought to have negative influences on the individual. There are 35 % of the total population in Australia living in rural area(Phillips, 2009).Rural areas in Australia and all over the world are not geographically isolated and disadvantaged only but also culturally and economically deprived which has great consequences on the health status of the population. The main two factors that have a major effect on rural health are socioeconomic status and cultural issues(Beard, Tomaska, Earnest, Summerhayes, & Morgan, 2009).

According to the United Nations, food security is defined as “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (“Rome Declaration,” 1996). Canada has adopted this definition, although they monitor food insecurity per each household and analyze financial barriers causing the situation. Research has shown that 62.2% of households

In modern society there is a general consensus that ‘good health’ is something that everyone wants to experience and that each individual knows what this involves. Because there are so many different definitions of health and ill health it can become a very complicated concept. Walsh (2011) states that “In sociological terms ‘health’ and ‘illness’ are contested concepts. This means that the general meaning of these words should not be taken for granted.

Food insecurity is an issue seeing growth in Ontario which has an impact on thousands of people annually. It is defined as when an individual does not have adequate or sufficient access to healthy, nutritious food which prevents him or her from maintaining a healthy and active life.Some causes of food insecurity includes low income or unemployment, location, gender, race, physical or mental illness or disabilities and more. From the research I have done, nearly 10 percent of all Ontarians have suffered from food insecurity at least one in his or her life. As we learnt in class,  few programs effective with the creation of a solution for the problem such as Northern Food Canada. Though benefits of Northern Food Canada exist, there were flaws

Food insecurity is a growing problem in Australia’s modern society even though many of us do not even realise. Nutrition is important for a healthy life style but when only two thirds of the land is actually farmable we start to see that less then 4% of people are actually getting all the nutrients needed, to actually be healthy. With Australian soil lacking phosphorus and nitrogen we find it harder to grow crops meaning more people in Australia are going hungry, or starting to become food insecure then there should be. Many factors can lead to someone becoming food insecure, these factors include; climate change, land degradation and water scarcity. Whilst Australia is still a food secure nation there are still many issues threatening our food security.

Food security is a factor that is often a risk for indigenous groups as many groups fall into a bracket that holds 5% of the population that have food security issues.[8] Proper nutrition is vital for good health and wellbeing as well as a better quality of life. Therefore, it is imperative that proper nutrition through foods is readily available to the entire population. If the food security situation continues to worsen then there will be an increasing number of health issues that arise throughout the indigenous community continuously.

The World Health Organisation defined health: “State of complete physical and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity” (WHO, 1946 p.100). Many factors influence health such as family traits, behaviours, access to quality healthcare and environment (quality of air, bad/good water and housing conditions) (WHO, 1946). The holistic view of health combines the mind (mental), body (physical), emotional and spiritual elements to a person (Ewes & Simnett, 2003).

Due to global population growth there is a rising threat to food security. According to the United Nations Food and agriculture Organization (FAO) the widely accepted definition of "Food security" is that food is available at all times; that all persons have means of access to it; that it is nutritionally adequate in terms of quantity, quality and variety; and that it is acceptable within the given culture. Only when all these conditions are in place can a population be considered "food secure" (Mustafa et al. 1999)

Food security is historically defined as the overall regional, national as well as global food supply and shortfalls in supply as associated to requirements (Foster, 1992). The same author contended that, even though, the increased observation of differences in the sufficiency of food intake by certain groups despite overall adequacy of supply, the term has been applied recently at a local, household, or individual level and it has been widened beyond notions of food supply to include elements of access (Sen, 1981), vulnerability (Watts and Bohle, 1993), and sustainability (Chambers, 1989). Different organizations, scholars and institutions define food security differently. However, basic concept remains the same.

(WHO, 1948) describes health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease of infirmity’? There are other dimensions of health such as physical health, mental health and emotional health which can be broken down and looked at individually.