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Food insecurity and social protection in Europe: Quasi-natural experiment of Europe's great recessions 2004-2012.

ABSTRACT: Food insecurity rose sharply in Europe after 2009, but marked variation exists across countries and over time. We test whether social protection programs protected people from food insecurity arising from economic hardship across Europe. Data on household food insecurity covering 21 EU countries from 2004 to 2012 were taken from Eurostat 2015 edition and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Cross-national first difference models were used to evaluate how rising unemployment and declining wages related to changes in the prevalence of food insecurity and the role of social protection expenditure in modifying observed effects. Economic hardship was strongly associated with greater food insecurity. Each 1 percentage point rise in unemployment rates was associated with an estimated 0.29 percentage point rise in food insecurity (95% CI: 0.10 to 0.49). Similarly, each $1000 decreases in annual average wages was associated with a 0.62 percentage point increase in food insecurity (95% CI: 0.27 to 0.97). Greater social protection spending mitigated these risks. Each $1000 spent per capita reduced the associations of rising unemployment and declining wages with food insecurity by 0.05 percentage points (95% CI: -0.10 to -0.0007) and 0.10 (95% CI: -0.18 to -0.006), respectively. The estimated effects of economic hardship on food insecurity became insignificant when countries spent more than $10,000 per capita on social protection. Rising unemployment and falling wages are strong statistical determinants of increasing food insecurity, but at high levels of social protection, these associations could be prevented.

SUBMITTER: Loopstra R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4976834 | biostudies-other | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Food insecurity and social protection in Europe: Quasi-natural experiment of Europe's great recessions 2004-2012.

Loopstra Rachel R Reeves Aaron A McKee Martin M Stuckler David D

Preventive medicine 20160517

Food insecurity rose sharply in Europe after 2009, but marked variation exists across countries and over time. We test whether social protection programs protected people from food insecurity arising from economic hardship across Europe. Data on household food insecurity covering 21 EU countries from 2004 to 2012 were taken from Eurostat 2015 edition and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Cross-national first difference models were used to evaluate how rising unemployment ...[more]

PMID: 27212071

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Project description:BackgroundFood insecurity, the uncertain ability to access adequate food, can limit adherence to dietary measures needed to prevent and manage cardiometabolic conditions. However, little is known about temporal trends in food insecurity among those with diet-sensitive cardiometabolic conditions.MethodsWe used data from the Continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2012, analyzed in 2015-2016, to calculate trends in age-standardized rates of food insecurity for those with and without the following diet-sensitive cardiometabolic conditions: diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, and obesity.Results21,196 NHANES participants were included from 4 waves (4,408 in 2005-2006, 5,607 in 2007-2008, 5,934 in 2009-2010, and 5,247 in 2011-2012). 56.2% had at least one cardiometabolic condition, 24.4% had 2 or more, and 8.5% had 3 or more. The overall age-standardized rate of food insecurity doubled during the study period, from 9.06% in 2005-2006 to 10.82% in 2007-2008 to 15.22% in 2009-2010 to 18.33% in 2011-2012 (p for trend < .001). The average annual percentage change in food insecurity for those with a cardiometabolic condition during the study period was 13.0% (95% CI 7.5% to 18.6%), compared with 5.8% (95% CI 1.8% to 10.0%) for those without a cardiometabolic condition, (parallelism test p = .13). Comparing those with and without the condition, age-standardized rates of food insecurity were greater in participants with diabetes (19.5% vs. 11.5%, p < .0001), hypertension (14.1% vs. 11.1%, p = .0003), coronary heart disease (20.5% vs. 11.9%, p < .001), congestive heart failure (18.4% vs. 12.1%, p = .004), and obesity (14.3% vs. 11.1%, p < .001).ConclusionsFood insecurity doubled to historic highs from 2005-2012, particularly affecting those with diet-sensitive cardiometabolic conditions. Since adherence to specific dietary recommendations is a foundation of the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic disease, these results have important implications for clinical management and public health.

Project description:We aimed to explore experiences of government-led actions on the social determinants of food insecurity during Australia's COVID-19 pandemic response (which included novel, yet temporary, social protection measures to support Australians facing hardship during state-wide lockdowns). During November-December 2020, we conducted in-depth interviews with 24 Victorians who received government income support (prior to COVID-19) and the temporary COVID-19 specific payments. Interviews were guided by a theoretical understanding of the social determinants of health and health inequities, which we aligned to the social policy context. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed, inductively coded, categorised and thematically analysed. Our sample included mostly women (n = 19) and single parents (n = 13). Interviews reflected four key themes. Firstly, participants described 'battles all around them' (i.e., competing financial, health and social stressors) that were not alleviated by temporary social policy changes and made healthy eating difficult to prioritise during the pandemic. Secondly, housing, income, job, and education priorities rendered food a lower and more flexible financial priority - even with 18 participants receiving temporary income increases from COVID-19 Supplements. Thirdly, given that food remained a lower and more flexible financial priority, families continued to purchase the cheapest and most affordable options (typically less healthful, more markedly price discounted). Finally, participants perceived the dominant public and policy rhetoric around income support policies and healthy eating to be inaccurate and shaming - often misrepresenting their lived experiences, both prior to and during COVID-19. Participants reported entrenched struggles with being able to afford basic living costs in a dignified manner during COVID-19, despite temporary social protection policy changes. To reduce inequities in population diets, a pre-requisite to health, all stakeholders must recognise an ongoing responsibility for adopting long-term food and social policies that genuinely improve lived experiences of food insecurity and poverty.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12571-022-01318-4.

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Food insecurity and social protection in Europe: Quasi-natural experiment of Europe's great recessions 2004-2012.

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Food insecurity and social protection in Europe: Quasi-natural experiment of Europe's great recessions 2004-2012.

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