Food Reference Budgets as a Potential Policy Tool to Address Food Insecurity: Lessons Learned from a Pilot Study in 26 European Countries.
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SUBMITTER: Carrillo-Alvarez E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6338967 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundLevels of child malnutrition and hunger across the world have decreased substantially over the past century, and this has had an important role in reducing mortality and improving health. However, progress has stalled. We examined whether family policies (eg, cash transfers from governments that aim to support households with children) are associated with reduced food insecurity.MethodsIn this observational analysis, we used a dataset of individual-level data that captured experience-based measures of food insecurity and sociodemographic characteristics collected by the Gallup World Poll in 142 countries for 2014-17. We then combined this dataset with indicators of the type and generosity of family policies in these countries, taken from the University of California, Los Angeles' World Policy Analysis Center. We used multilevel regression models to examine the association between the presence of family policies for households with children and the probability of reporting moderate or severe food insecurity or severe food insecurity (moderate or severe food insecurity was defined as a "yes" response to at least four of eight questions on the Gallup Food Insecurity Experience Scale, and severe food insecurity was defined as a "yes" response to at least seven questions). We controlled for multiple covariates, including individual-level measures of social position and country-level measures, such as gross domestic product. We further examined whether this association varied by household income level.FindingsUsing data from 503 713 households, we found that, on average, moderate or severe food insecurity is 4·09 percentage points (95% CI 3·50-4·68) higher in households with at least one child younger than 15 years than in households with no children and severe food insecurity is 2·20 percentage points (1·76-2·63) higher. However, the additional risk of food insecurity among households with children is lower in countries that provide financial support (either means-tested or universal) for families than for countries with little or no financial assistance. These policies not only reduce food insecurity on average, but they also reduce inequalities in food insecurity by benefiting the poorest households most.InterpretationIn some countries, family policies have been cut back in the past decade and such retrenchment might expose low-income households to increased risk of food insecurity. By increasing investment in family policies, progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 2, zero hunger, might be accelerated and, in turn, improve health for all.FundingWellcome Trust.
| S-EPMC8374132 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Australian efforts to address food insecurity are delivered by a charitable food system (CFS) which fails to meet demand. The scope and nature of the CFS is unknown. This study audits the organisational capacity of the CFS within the 10.9 square kilometres of inner-city Perth, Western Australia. A desktop analysis of services and 12 face-to-face interviews with representatives from CFS organisations was conducted. All CFS organisations were not-for?profit and guided by humanitarian or faith-based values. The CFS comprised three indirect services (IS) sourcing, banking and/or distributing food to 15 direct services (DS) providing food to recipients. DS offered 30 different food services at 34 locations feeding over 5670 people/week via 16 models including mobile and seated meals, food parcels, supermarket vouchers, and food pantries. Volunteer to paid staff ratios were 33:1 (DS) and 19:1 (IS). System-wide, food was mainly donated and most funding was philanthropic. Only three organisations received government funds. No organisation had a nutrition policy. The organisational capacity of the CFS was precarious due to unreliable, insufficient and inappropriate financial, human and food resources and structures. System-wide reforms are needed to ensure adequate and appropriate food relief for Australians experiencing food insecurity.
| S-EPMC6025598 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundKnowledge translation platforms (KTPs), which are partnerships between policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers, are being established in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to enhance evidence-informed health policymaking (EIHP). This study aims to gain a better understanding of the i) activities conducted by KTPs, ii) the way in which KTP leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders perceive these activities and their outputs, iii) facilitators that support KTP work and challenges, and the lessons learned for overcoming such challenges, and iv) factors that can help to ensure the sustainability of KTPs.MethodsThis paper triangulated qualitative data from: i) 17 semi-structured interviews with 47 key informants including KTP leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders from 10 KTPs; ii) document reviews, and iii) observation of deliberations at the International Forum on EIHP in LMICs held in Addis Ababa in August 2012. Purposive sampling was used and data were analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsDeliberative dialogues informed by evidence briefs were identified as the most commendable tools by interviewees for enhancing EIHP. KTPs reported that they have contributed to increased awareness of the importance of EIHP and strengthened relationships among policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers. Support from policymakers and international funders facilitated KTP activities, while the lack of skilled human resources to conduct EIHP activities impeded KTPs. Ensuring the sustainability of EIHP initiatives after the end of funding was a major challenge for KTPs. KTPs reported that institutionalization within the government has helped to retain human resources and secure funding, whereas KTPs hosted by universities highlighted the advantage of autonomy from political interests.ConclusionsThe establishment of KTPs is a promising development in supporting EIHP. Real-time lesson drawing from the experiences of KTPs can support improvements in the functioning of KTPs in the short term, while making the case for sustaining their work in the long term. Lessons learned can help to promote similar EIHP initiatives in other countries.
| S-EPMC3904410 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In the United States, food pantries increasingly serve as regular food sources for low income households experiencing high rates of chronic disease, including hypertension. Sodium consumption is a modifiable risk factor for hypertension, so pantry customers would benefit from access to low-sodium foods. Pantry customers often experience difficulty acquiring healthy foods, however; little is known about pantry foods' sodium content specifically. This study assesses the sodium content of pantry foods and lessons learned from an adaptable intervention to support pantries in adopting policies and environmental changes to make healthy, lower-sodium foods appealing and accessible. We conducted sodium assessments of food at 13 food pantries, tracked implementation of intervention strategies, and interviewed 10 pantry directors. More than half of food items in 11 categories met sodium standards for foods to be chosen "often". Pantry directors reported valuing the intervention approach and implemented six of nine behavioral economics strategies, especially those targeting the visibility and convenience of foods, along with layout changes and expanded customer choice. One pantry adopted an agency-specific nutrition policy and 12 adopted a coalition-level policy. Results can inform intervention efforts to make available healthy options appealing and easy to select while also improving the customer experience in food pantries.
| S-EPMC8701667 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This article provides a review and synthesis of scholarly knowledge of Depression-era droughts on the North American Great Plains, a time and place known colloquially as the Dust Bowl era or the Dirty Thirties. Recent events, including the 2008 financial crisis, severe droughts in the US corn belt, and the release of a popular documentary film, have spawned a resurgence in public interest in the Dust Bowl. Events of the Dust Bowl era have also proven in recent years to be of considerable interest to scholars researching phenomena related to global environmental change, including atmospheric circulation, drought modeling, land management, institutional behavior, adaptation processes, and human migration. In this review, we draw out common themes in terms of not only what natural and social scientists have learned about the Dust Bowl era itself, but also how insights gained from the study of that period are helping to enhance our understanding of climate-human relations more generally.
| S-EPMC4015056 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Knowledge translation (KT) platforms are organisations, initiatives and networks that focus on supporting evidence-informed policy-making at least in part about the health-system arrangements that determine whether the right programmes, services and products get to those who need them. Many descriptions and evaluations of KT platforms in low- and middle-income countries have been produced but, to date, they have not been systematically reviewed. METHODS:We identified potentially relevant studies through a search of five electronic databases and a variety of approaches to identify grey literature. We used four criteria to select eligible empirical studies. We extracted data about seven characteristics of included studies and about key findings. We used explicit criteria to assess study quality. In synthesising the findings, we gave greater attention to themes that emerged from multiple studies, higher-quality studies and different contexts. RESULTS:Country was the most common jurisdictional focus of KT platforms, EVIPNet the most common name and high turnover among staff a common infrastructural feature. Evidence briefs and deliberative dialogues were the activities/outputs that were the most extensively studied and viewed as helpful, while rapid evidence services were the next most studied but only in a single jurisdiction. None of the summative evaluations used a pre-post design or a control group and, with the exception of the evaluations of the influence of briefs and dialogues on intentions to act, none of the evaluations achieved a high quality score. CONCLUSIONS:A large and growing volume of research evidence suggests that KT platforms offer promise in supporting evidence-informed policy-making in low- and middle-income countries. KT platforms should consider as next steps expanding their current, relatively limited portfolio of activities and outputs, building bridges to complementary groups, and planning for evaluations that examine 'what works' for 'what types of issues' in 'what types of contexts'.
| S-EPMC7603785 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This chapter reviews the agro-economic environment in Sub-Saharan Africa as it relates to animal production, public health, and disease control to contextualize the concept of risk and food safety. Drawing mostly from the experience of Zambia, it analyzes food safety actors and interests in Sub-Saharan Africa, and provides an outline of the general regulatory framework that is in place on the continent, to explain how food safety governance is impacted by different interest groups and agendas. Two case studies are provided, zoonotic tuberculosis and avian influenza. The chapter demonstrates how the two zoonoses, both important food safety concerns, have been prioritized differently in the case of Zambia, as a result of multiple socio-political and economic factors. The chapter concludes that, in order to be useful, a definition of food safety risks should include multiple contextual issues and stakeholders along the food supply chain. It is important to keep in mind what national food safety governance actors perceive the risks to be, and how their definitions fit into the broader picture of food safety in general. Food safety governance regulatory processes should take into consideration local realities, local food supply chains and local food safety threats to ensure the appropriateness and sustainability of any and all disease control measures instituted. Context will always matter, and therefore, local ecological, biological and policy considerations should be given primacy.
| S-EPMC7138434 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The measurement of food insecurity is essential to monitor the prevalence, risk factors, consequences and effects of food insecurity and the interventions and policies implemented to tackle it. Yet, how best to apply it remains an unsettled issue due to the multifaceted and context-dependent nature of food insecurity. We report a scoping review of measures of food insecurity at the individual and household level in high-income countries with the final purpose of facilitating a catalogue of instruments to be used by both researchers and practitioners. The scoping review was conducted following the methodological framework of Arksey and O'Malley and the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines. We included all types of documents published between 2000-2020 using instruments that estimate food insecurity at both individual and household level in high-income countries, and with respondents including adolescents, adults, and elderly. We identified a total of 23 measurement strategies being used in 33 peer-reviewed publications and 114 documents from the grey literature. Our results show that most measures focus on the access dimension of food insecurity and that further research is required to develop measures that incorporate aspects of quality of dietary intake and relevant individual, household and social conditions related to food insecurity.
| S-EPMC8468034 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Objectives: To examine the relationship of food insecurity with sexual intercourse, multiple sexual partners and non-condom use. Methods: Data on food insecurity (hunger) and sexual behaviors from 205,296 adolescents from 53 countries. Associations were analyzed using meta-analysis. Results: Overall, 16.0% of the adolescents ever had sexual intercourse and the prevalence of moderate and severe food insecurity was 44.9% and 6.2%, respectively. Moderate and severe food insecurity was associated with higher odds for sexual intercourse. Any food insecurity was significantly associated with condom nonuse at last sex. Conclusions: Food insecurity was associated with higher odds of ever having sexual intercourse dose-dependently.
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Project description:Waste generated from HIV viral load (VL) testing contains potentially hazardous guanidinium thiocyanate (GTC). GTC is toxic to humans and can pollute waters and harm aquatic life if not disposed of appropriately. We assessed gaps in waste management (WM) policies, regulations and practices through a self-assessment scorecard and an online survey questionnaire among 11 African countries participating in a laboratory systems strengthening community of practice and receiving technical assistance to scale-up VL testing. We identified solutions from national stakeholders, technical agencies, and manufacturers to inform interventions for improving WM. Nine of 11 countries did not have WM policies/guidelines in place. Most Countries reported disposing liquid chemical waste into the sewer. Nine countries prioritised the development of policies as a multi-sectoral approach in the short term. High-temperature incineration through cement factory kilns was identified as an effective, inexpensive and high-capacity disposal option for GTC-containing waste in the short term. A long-term consideration with funding from governments and donors were infrastructural investments for conventional high-temperature incineration where cement factory kilns are unavailable/inaccessible. Adequate WM of GTC-containing waste through available funding could provide the necessary impetus to establish comprehensive WM systems addressing all types of healthcare waste through a multisectoral approach.
| S-EPMC8721957 | biostudies-literature