Red Cross shines light on need for affordable, healthy food

In Anti-Poverty Week, Red Cross shines light on need for affordable, healthy food

If you were on a low income and had to choose between a lettuce for $9 and a chocolate bar for $2, which would you choose? Sadly, that is just the kind of choice faced by many Aboriginal people on low incomes, especially those living in remote communities.

Based on regular visits to sites all over Australia and its work with clients and key experts, Red Cross recognises food insecurity as a critical and growing area of concern for many Australian individuals, families and communities.

Many of the outside experts who contributed to Red Cross’ recent Food Security Review voiced concern about the lack of a coherent national food security strategy.

Red Cross therefore welcomes the development of a National Food Plan by the current federal Government (the first since 1992).

Director of Services and International Operations Michael Raper said: “The experts we consulted for the review all commented that as a nation, Australia’s response to and responsibility for food security is intermittent, sporadic and fragmentary.

“For example, the review findings identified a failure to ‘join the dots’ and develop a link between housing affordability, income security and sustainability, and the tendency to blame an individual for circumstances that are exacerbated by issues outside their control.

“As well as low incomes, other factors were poor access to local food, lack of transport, inadequate food storage and preparation facilities.”

Despite Australia’s rising living standards and significant growth in national prosperity (UNDP 2010), the last National Health Survey in 2006 showed that 6 per cent of Australians had experienced a shortage of food.

More recent reports on specific groups are even more alarming, reporting 25 per cent food insecurity among people in disadvantaged urban areas, rising to 75 per cent among newly arrived migrants.

It is estimated that 27 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and 32 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women worry about going hungry.

Mr Raper said: “Everyone deserves access to affordable, sustainable and healthy food, and should have an understanding of how food can enrich their overall health and wellbeing.

“In our experience, poverty and homelessness can lead to physical and mental health problems, family breakdown, social isolation and severe hardship. Lack of access to food has serious spill-on effects socially, and culturally and for short-term and long-term health. There is some evidence it can cause physical and cognitive impairments.

“Sadly, right here in a wealthy country like ours, too many people experience food insecurity; they regularly run out of food and go to bed hungry; too many lack access to safe, nutritious and culturally acceptable food from non-emergency sources."

The term food insecurity could mean skipping a meal, or eating the same food day after day to save money. At its extreme, it includes ongoing and persistent hunger through lack of food and malnutrition among the aged, who are the most likely to be hospitalised for malnutrition, as well as some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in remote areas.

The causes of food insecurity include:

• low income
• health and social issues
• local food access and transport barriers
• lack of affordable healthy food
• inadequate food storage and preparation facilities
• lack of knowledge about healthy food.

Malnutrition is a major contributor to chronic disease and premature death for people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island backgrounds living in remote, rural and urban communities.

Securing Australia’s Future: Australia and Food Security in a Changing World,² a recent report by the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, warns that food insecurity will worsen unless the nation invests in key areas, such as research and development to improve agricultural productivity, building human capacity in the sector and raising public awareness about possible risks to the food supply.

Red Cross works with communities both here and overseas to improve food security. In Australia, we are committed to helping the most vulnerable people in our community, providing breakfast for hungry children every day and assisting people made vulnerable through the process of migration.

Our programs promote the availability of affordable food, provide healthy cooking and food preparation education, maximise local food production opportunities, encourage community food co-operatives and groups and provide adequate storage facilities.

To find out more about Anti-Poverty Week, visit our website and click on the link: www.redcross.org.au.

You can support Red Cross by giving monthly, leaving a bequest in your will or making a one-off donation by visiting www.redcross.org.au or calling 1800 811 700.

ENDS

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