What is hunger?
Feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by a lack of food, coupled with the desire to eat.
What is hidden hunger?
Lack of vitamins and minerals, which do not necessarily show obvious physical symptoms (e.g. anemia).
According to FAO’s Declaration on World Food Security at the World Food Summit in Rome in 1996, what is the definition of food security?
Food security affects all people, at all times, and implies physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, taking into account dietary needs and preferences to provide individuals with an active and healthy life.
What is food insecurity?
Limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods,
OR
limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways. Food insecurity is not necessarily the lack of food security.
What are the three types of environments that affect food security? Give examples for each
Physical Environment: climate change, soil degradation, water scarcity, lack of infrastructure
Social Environment: inequalities in land distribution, conflict, dependence
Policy Environment: lack of budget allocation to fight hunger, unstable food markets, political instability
What are the three capitals that affect food security?
Financial Capital: when insufficient, impacts on agricultural production
Human Capital: when insufficient, illiteracy and taboos
Social Capital: when insufficient, weak social network
What is the primary determinant of food insecurity?
Poverty
What are possible consequences of food insecurity?
- Insufficient, low-quality diet with poor utilization
- Undernutrition and obesity (double-burden?) and chronic diseases
- Depression and conflicts
- Illness
What is the double-burden of food insecurity?
The co-existence of undernutrition and obesity within the same household, community, or country.
What did the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 state in terms of the right to food?
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food…” Health was at the center of this statement, but not food.
What is the ICESCR?
A legally-binding agreement, ratified by over 150 countries, which states that everyone possesses the right to adequate food and the fundamental right to be free from hunger.
What three things must the states that have ratified the ICESCR do?
- Respect: cannot take measures that prevent people to access food
- Protect: must prevent others from interfering
- Fulfill: must create conditions for effective realization
Why is the right to adequate food a concern for ALL members of society? Name four reasons.
- Legal Obligations: many countries have ratified the ICESCR
- Economic Reasons: hunger, malnutrition, and poverty have economic and social costs
- Political Reasons: politicians who implement the right to food are more popular among voters
- Ethical Reasons: since we have knowledge and resources, it would be unethical not to act
Who is at the center of concern in the Right to Adequate Food Approach? Who is called for responsible action?
- Vulnerable groups are the center of concern.
- All members of society are responsible, including the private sector.
What is short-term food insecurity? What is long-term food insecurity? How may they be overcome?
- Chronic Food Insecurity is long-term or persistent, which may be overcome with measures that address poverty (ex: education).
- Transitory Food Insecurity is short-term or temporary, which may be overcome by planning and developing resilience.
What are the four pillars of food security? Provide examples of what they imply.
- Access: food prices, road density
- Availability: food production
- Utilization: food preparation, diversity of the diet
- Stability: weather conditions, political instability
What are the four types of stability?
SEEP (social, economic, environmental, and political)
What two factors determine the nutritional status of individuals?
- Sufficient energy and nutrient intake (good care and feeding practices, food preparation, etc.)
- Good biological utilization of food consumed
What are the four methods to measure food security?
- Food Balance Sheets (FAO method)
- Adequacy of dietary intake
- Child nutritional status (anthropometric indicators)
- Food Insecurity Experience Scale (Voices of the Hungry)
What does the Voices of the Hungry measure?
People’s experience with food insecurity
In the Spears’ article concerning India, what contributes to 35 to 55% of stunting?
Outdoor defecation
Other than diet and cuisine, why do we eat what we eat?
- Technology
- Social environment
- Socioeconomic status
- Ideology
Differentiate stunting and wasting. What do they indicate? What is underweight?
- Stunting is defined as being short of height for age, which illustrates chronic undernutrition.
- Wasting is defined as being low weight for height, which illustrates acute undernutrition.
- Underweight is defined as being low weight for age.
What is the impact of alternative definitions of the minimum dietary energy requirements?
FAO calculates the minimum dietary energy requirement based on SEDENTARY activity, which provokes an underestimation of the value, as not everyone is sedentary. If the activity was increased to a “regular” level, then the minimum dietary energy requirements would rise such that 1.5 billion people would be calculated as undernourished in terms of energy.
