Food Security – Key issues and initiatives underway Julie Brimblecombe & Megan Ferguson Regional CDEP Best Practice workshop Darwin, 12 November 2010

Food Security: A Human Right “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of himself and of his family, including food” (Universal declaration of human rights, 1948) “Paradox of hunger in the midst of plenty” – (Great Depression) Food security: “The availability of and assured access to sufficient food that is nutritionally adequate, culturally acceptable, safe, and which is obtained in socially acceptable ways”

“The land and the sea is our food security”. Food security for us is when the food of our ancestors is protected and always there for us and our children. It is also when we can easily access and afford the right non- traditional foods for a collective healthy and active life. When we are food secure we can provide, share and fulfil our responsibilities, we can choose good food knowing how to make choices and how to prepare and use it. (“Good food systems: Good food for all” project face to face, February 2010) A STRONG FOOD SYSTEM A strong food system defined by the community. A future without food worries, without hunger, with enough of the right food.

Food security: Australia & overseas US – 14.6% NZ – 14% general population  50% Pacific Island people  33% Maori AUSTRALIA (NNS 1995) In the last 12 months were there any time that you ran out of food and couldn’t afford to buy more?  5% general Australians; highest in those categories of greatest disadvantage;  16% paying rate or board gave a positive response INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA (NATSIHS 1994)  24% Indigenous Australians  NT 45% vs 18-29% other states and ACT  Remote (36%) vs non-remote areas (20%)

Food security and diet Food insecurity - Nutrient poor - Diet less varied - Lower fruit and veg intake - Diet nutritionally inadequate - Micronutrient deficiency - Meat and fruit - Energy not different - Iron, vit C and folate

Nutrition and Health Source: Burden of Disease & Injury in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People – Policy Brief 2003 Risk factors contributing to the Indigenous health gap, 2003

Four dimensions of food security

Livelihoods framework Ongoing Intermediate Indicators Turnover of fruit & veg; sugar; sweet drinks Household kitchen infrastructure Cost of food relative to income [FAO Committee on World Food Security 2000]

Key issues in food security: high income countries employment wealth Cost of living housing Cultural obligations Nutrition knowledge Cooking skills Financial skills Education level Household composition Social networks health Lack of transport Location Food pricing Food availability Govt. policy Food bank usage Welfare system Socio-cultural Political Physical Economic Gorton D, Bullen C, Ni Mhurchu C. Environmental influences on food security in high-income countries. Nutrition Reviews 68 (1):1-29

Key initiatives o Income growth (livelihood strategies) supported by… o Direct nutrition interventions (food development to support food availability and access); & o Investment in health, housing, water and education (health-related activities)

Aim: Validation of a tool to measure food insecurity at the household level for urban Indigenous populations Process: National surveys use two questions to determine food insecurity Validation of an internationally accepted tool which has 18 questions in an urban Indigenous population Exploring factors influencing food security/ insecurity Outcome: A tool that will measure food insecurity in urban Indigenous populations An understanding of the association between food insecurity and diet and child health outcomes (body size, haemoglobin) Addressing household food insecurity

Remote community food stores Priorities: Policy which support the sale and promotion of healthy foods and drinks Increasing the sales of healthy products, especially fresh fruit and vegetables Decreasing the sales of unhealthy products, especially sugared drinks and tobacco Addressing community food insecurity

Remote community food stores Strategies: Product, Price, Placement, Promotion Training and resource support for staff Measuring and reporting on sales Addressing community food insecurity

Research in remote communities Good Food Systems -uses a capacity development and continuous quality improvement approach to address community level food security -Supports food governance groups in communities to plan, do, study and act for nutrition improvement Evaluation of the impact of price on purchasing patterns -with a focus on fresh fruit and vegetables, sugared drinks and tobacco Keeping Track of Healthy Foods -a tool which provides the capacity to measure and report on the volume of foods/drinks sold through the store and those provided through community programs -the tool also provides the capacity to analyse the nutrients coming from the foods/drinks sold and provided Addressing community food insecurity

Plans for research in the remote community context Point of sales data as a food and nutrition monitoring tool -validating the use of store sales data as an tool to monitor community level dietary and nutrient intake Economics of dietary improvement -using the store as the setting for dietary improvement, to determine the cost to improve the nutritional quality of foods to the level such that the population is consuming a diet inline with recommendations for good health Intervention -to propose an intervention which would address community food security, potentially through two key influences on food security one at the policy and one at the consumer level Addressing community food insecurity

For more information contact: Julie Brimblecombe Ph: Megan Ferguson Ph: