Dataset Information

Food Security Challenges and Options in the Caribbean: Insights from a Scoping Review

ABSTRACT: The Caribbean region remains susceptible to an increasing frequency of natural disasters, rising international debt, out-migration, rapid urbanization, and high imports to meet basic needs. Food and nutrition insecurity persists in these small island states, with around 67.5% of the population living in moderate or severe food insecurity. Policy adjustments required to address the targets subsumed by the second sustainable development goal (SDG2 or Zero Hunger) are still at an infant stage. This research offers rigorous and up-to-date analyzes of the current status of Caribbean food policies and practices through a scoping review and expert interviews to answer the question, “What constraints and enablers impact the ability of small island states to achieve the Zero Hunger goal?”. A scoping review is performed following the relevant population, concept, and context (PCC) methodology by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). Five major challenges and barriers are identified through the scoping review: (i) island geography, (ii) governance deficiencies, and (iii) institutional constraints, compounded by (iv) collaboration barriers, and (v) externally imposed impediments (including environmental and financial shocks). To address these challenges, synergistic linkages and restrictive connections have been recognized for SDG2 localization. It was concluded that three dimensions of food security (utilization, agency, and sustainability) are mainly overlooked, necessitating special attention and action. By identifying bridging institutions and engaging various actors in supporting shared rulemaking, power, conflict management, and knowledge-sharing among local, national, and regional policy actors, a polycentric governance system is recommended as a suitable mechanism to help islands move towards food security.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s44177-021-00008-8.

SUBMITTER: Mohammadi E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8771656 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Since 1995, the term 'foodscape', a contraction of food and landscape, has been used in various research addressing social and spatial disparities in public health and food systems. This article presents a scoping review of the literature examining how this term is employed and framed. We searched publications using the term foodscape in the Web of Science Core Collection, MEDLINE, and Scopus databases. Analyzing 140 publications, we highlight four approaches to the foodscape: (i) Spatial approaches use statistics and spatial analysis to characterize the diversity of urban foodscapes and their impacts on diet and health, at city or neighborhood scales. (ii) Social and cultural approaches at the same scales show that foodscapes are socially shaped and highlight structural inequalities by combining qualitative case studies and quantitative surveys of food procurement practices. (iii) Behavioral approaches generally focus on indoor micro-scales, showing how consumer perceptions of foodscapes explain and determine food behaviors and food education. (iv) Systemic approaches contest the global corporate food regime and promote local, ethical, and sustainable food networks. Thus, although spatial analysis was the first approach to foodscapes, sociocultural, behavioral and systemic approaches are becoming more common. In the spatial approach, the term 'foodscape' is synonymous with 'food environment'. In the three other approaches, 'foodscape' and 'food environment' are not synonymous. Scholars consider that the foodscape is not an environment external to individuals but a landscape including, perceived, and socially shaped by individuals and policies. They share a systemic way of thinking, considering culture and experience of food as key to improving our understanding of how food systems affect people. Foodscape studies principally address three issues: public health, social justice, and sustainability. The review concludes with a research agenda, arguing that people-based and place-based approaches need to be combined to tackle the complexity of the food-people-territory nexus.

Project description:BackgroundThe novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted food systems and economies across the United States. Public health measures, including stay-at-home orders, led to employment disruptions and food system shocks that increased barriers to food access.ObjectivesWe aimed to examine food insecurity and food access challenges in New Mexico (NM) during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA cross-sectional study using a validated survey was conducted in NM in May and June 2020. Adults 18 y and older were recruited through convenience sampling via email, websites, and targeted social media ads from major universities, nongovernmental organizations, state agencies, and media outlets. Survey questions assessed food insecurity and food-related challenges and worry. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression examined relations between food insecurity and demographic characteristics. z Tests were used to compare the proportions of individuals who responded affirmatively to food challenge and worry questions between food-secure and food-insecure respondents.ResultsA total of 1487 residents participated in the study. Thirty percent of respondents reported experiencing food insecurity and 16% experienced very low food security since the pandemic started. Food insecurity was associated with each of 7 characteristics examined in bivariate logistic regression analyses. Multivariate logistic regression results showed that Hispanic (adjusted OR: 1.70; 95% CI: 1.18, 2.44) and female (adjusted OR: 1.78; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.90) respondents were more likely to experience food insecurity than non-Hispanic white and male respondents. Larger household sizes were associated with higher odds of food insecurity except for those in the lowest and highest income categories. z Tests showed that a higher proportion of food-insecure respondents experienced food-related challenges and worry than food-secure respondents.ConclusionsDisparities in food insecurity persisted during the COVID-19 pandemic and food-insecure individuals were more likely to report experiencing food-related challenges and worry. Researchers and policy makers in NM may consider continuing efforts to mitigate food access issues as the pandemic continues.

Project description:BackgroundWhile responsible innovation in health (RIH) suggests that health innovations could be purposefully designed to better support health systems, little is known about the system-level challenges that it should address. The goal of this paper is thus to document what is known about health systems' demand for innovations.MethodsWe searched 8 databases to perform a scoping review of the scientific literature on health system challenges published between January 2000 and April 2016. The challenges reported in the articles were classified using the dynamic health system framework. The countries where the studies had been conducted were grouped using the human development index (HDI). Frequency distributions and qualitative content analysis were performed.ResultsUp to 1391 challenges were extracted from 254 articles examining health systems in 99 countries. Across countries, the most frequently reported challenges pertained to: service delivery (25%), human resources (23%), and leadership and governance (21%). Our analyses indicate that innovations tend to increase challenges associated to human resources by affecting the nature and scope of their tasks, skills and responsibilities, to exacerbate service delivery issues when they are meant to be used by highly skilled providers and call for accountable governance of their dissemination, use and reimbursement. In countries with a low and medium HDI, problems arising with infrastructure, logistics and equipment were described in connection with challenges affecting procurement, supply and distribution systems. In countries with a medium and high HDI, challenges included a growing demand for drugs and new technology and the management of rising costs. Across all HDI groups, the need for flexible information technologies (IT) solutions to reach rural areas was underscored.ConclusionHighlighting challenges that are common across countries, this study suggests that RIH should aim to reduce the cost of innovation production processes and attend not only to the requirements of the immediate clinical context of use, but also to the vulnerabilities of the broader system wherein innovations are deployed. Policy-makers should translate system-level demand signals into innovation development opportunities since it is imperative to foster innovations that contribute to the success and sustainability of health systems.

Project description:BackgroundSince the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic, the concept of measuring health security capacity has become increasingly important within the broader context of health systems-strengthening, enhancing responses to public health emergencies, and reducing global catastrophic biological risks. Efforts to regularly and sustainably track the evolution of health security capabilities and capacities over time - while also accounting for political, social, and environmental risks - could help countries progress toward eliminating sources of health insecurity. We sought to aggregate evidence-based principles that capture a country's baseline public health and healthcare capabilities, its health security system performance before and during infectious disease crises, and its broader social, political, security, and ecological risk environments.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review of English-language scholarly and gray literature to identify evidence- and practice-based indicators and proxies for measuring health security at the country level over time. We then used a qualitative coding framework to identify recurrent themes in the literature and synthesize foundational principles for measuring global health security. Documents reviewed included English-language literature published after 2001 until the end of the research period-September 2017-to ensure relevance to the current global health security landscape; literature examining acute infectious disease threats with potential for transnational spread; and literature addressing global health security efforts at the country level.ResultsWe synthesized four foundational principles for measuring global health security: measurement requires assessment of existing capacities, as well as efforts to build core public health, healthcare, and biosecurity capabilities; assessments of national programs and efforts to mitigate a critical subset of priority threats could inform efforts to generate useful metrics for global health security; there are measurable enabling factors facilitating health security-strengthening efforts; and finally, measurement requires consideration of social, political, and ecological risk environments.ConclusionThe themes identified in this review could inform efforts to systematically assess the impacts and effectiveness of activities undertaken to strengthen global health security.

Dataset Information

Food Security Challenges and Options in the Caribbean: Insights from a Scoping Review

Supplementary Information

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets