Hunger in our land of plenty
Despite the economic downturn over the past year or two most of us know that we will not be facing any trouble with continuing to eat properly, and probably find it surprising that many of our neighbours in New South Wales may have such a problem. But study after study has proven that to be the case.
For instance, a 2004 survey of 3 low-income suburbs in South West Sydney found that 22% of all households there had experienced ‘food insecurity’, 30% of households with children were ‘food insecure’, and 45% of single parent households were ‘food insecure’. The term “food insecurity” is defined as “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or, limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways”. Practically, food insecurity covers the range of need from people experiencing only occasional episodes of food shortage to being hungry all the time.
The NSW Child Health Survey 2001 revealed that 6.2% of all households across the state had run out of food and been unable to obtain more at some point in the prior year. Another study regarding lack of sufficient food, this time conducted by ANGLICARE in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney among the clients of an Emergency Relief (ER) program in Wollongong, recorded their clients’ struggles to obtain enough food for themselves and their households. It examined their experience of food insecurity, measuring its severity and chronicity, and looking into the reasons, coping mechanisms and impacts of this experience on people’s wellbeing. Some of the reasons for inability to access food were lack of food supply outlets, high prices, doubtful quality, and lack of variety. Key results identified that adults were ‘food insecure’ in 95% of client households, reflecting their need for emergency relief. This means that they experienced some level of food insecurity at least once in the three months prior to being surveyed. Adults frequently went hungry in 25% of the households surveyed. Of the households with children, 70 percent did not have enough food and children in 22% of such households experienced hunger.
All of these studies concur that the main cause for hunger in NSW is living at or below the poverty line. It is intended that the study results will be used to support the development of policy that addresses food insecurity. Church and social welfare organisations believe that adequate nutrition is a ‘fundamental human right’, and that all people should be guaranteed access to good quality food. The social ramifications of hunger are enormous.
It is known that lack of sufficient food results in poor physical and mental health, and lack of energy, as well as the sheer misery of hunger itself. It also involves uncertainty and some degree of social stigma, with a range of social and emotional aspects having important consequences including anxiety, feelings of deprivation, lack of control and the need to hide it, shame, the erosion of family mealtime rituals and disrupted household dynamics, eating at soup kitchens, and maybe eventually stealing.
Infants and young children who do not take in sufficient nutrition for their growth needs end up smaller, and with less brain development. Hungry school age children find it harder to focus on schoolwork and frequently have poor educational outcomes. That can mean leaving school prematurely, ill prepared for independence. That lack of training and life skills often results in un-or-under-employment and hence lifelong lower socio-economic status, and in turn hungry children of their own for whom they cannot provide, thereby continuing the sad cycle.
Food insecurity is also related to overweight and obesity because many poorer neighbourhoods have only fast food outlets and no grocery stores offering fresh produce. To remedy this, a number of measures are advised: the improvement of urban infrastructure which would ensure adequate food storage and cooking facilities in all housing, provide cheap or free public transport to food outlets, and influence planning decisions regarding the location of food outlets in proposed urban and suburban developments.
According to the NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS), some ways that proactive communities are helping is by providing food to the poor through school breakfast programs, community cafes, food co-ops, food distribution networks, local production of fruit and vegetables, community and school gardens, food banks and bulk buying schemes, and home delivery services. The NCOSS News June 2009 issue reports that food security has been listed as one of the top five priorities in both the national and state health departments’ nutrition policies, and is included in many local government plans.
NCOSS recommends that such policy development should include: Coordinated advocacy for food equity; Limiting junk food advertising and promoting fresh produce; Land-use polices that enable and sustain urban agriculture; Access to locally grown fresh foods (a policy that is also good for the environment by avoiding transport costs that leave a big carbon footprint; Advocacy for inter-sectoral collaboration and cross-government action at local, state and federal levels to improve food security; Increasing community awareness of problems associated with food security; Advocacy for education and employment initiatives in fair food access; Proponents of permaculture see it as part of the answer to many of the food shortage problems, with its greater capacity to use urban open spaces and suburban home gardens for food production which may be necessary when the peaking of the global oil supply forces up the cost of food delivered into our cities.
Several years ago the Sydney Food Fairness Alliance (SFFA) started the process of developing a food policy for the greater Sydney region. The resulting policy will be used to advocate for a fairer food system for the region and for protecting the existence of the urban market gardens that help make metropolitan Sydney almost self-sufficient in fresh fruit and vegetables. They have also been running a series of public events leading up to their food summit in October 2009. For fact sheets or more information about how you can participate please go to: http://sydneyfoodfairness.org.au/resources/launch.html
References: NCOSS News, Council of Social Service of NSW, Vol 36, Number 5, June 2009; Babbington, Sally. 2006. When There Isn’t Enough: Anglicare Sydney Food Insecurity Study; Food Security Options Paper, NSW Centre for Public Health Nutrition, University of Sydney http://www.cphn.mmb.usyd.edu.au/pdfs/food_security.pdf