Option F Geography of Food and Health

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Geography of Food and Health

Option F

Topics

1. Measuring food and health

• What are the ways of measuring disparities in food and health between places?

2. Food systems and the spread of disease

• How do physical and human processes lead to changes in food production and consumption and to the incidence and spread of disease?

3. Stakeholders in food and health

• What power do different stakeholders have to influence diets and health?

4. Future health and food security and sustainability

• What are the future possibilities for sustainable agriculture and improved health?

Measuring food and health

What are the ways of measuring disparities in food and health between places?

Key content:

• Global patterns in food/nutrition indicators, including the Global Food Security Index, the Global Hunger Index, calories per person/capita, indicators of malnutrition

• The nutrition transition, and associated regional variations in food consumption and nutrition choices

• Global patterns in health indicators, including health-adjusted-life expectancy (HALE), infant mortality, maternal mortality, access to sanitation, and the ratio between doctors/physicians and people

• The epidemiological transition, the diseases continuum (diseases of poverty to diseases of affluence), and the implications of a global population for disease burden

Global patterns in food/nutrition indicators, the Global Food Security

• The Global Food Security Index considers the affordability, availability, and quality of food across 113 countries.

  • Based on 28 indicators, measuring food security in HICs, MICs and LICs

  • MENA (Middle East and North Africa) made the largest strides according to 2015 GFSI

  • Food security exists when all the people at all times have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life

• The Global Hunger Index is a composite measure that ranks countries on a 100-point scale, 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst

  • Based on 4 component indicators (Oxford page 268, Activity 1 and Activity 2)

    • undernourishment

    • child wasting

    • child stunting

    • child mortality

• Calorie intake is the amount of food a person consumes, minimum 1800 calories per person per day

The nutrition transition, regional variations in food consumption and nutrition choices

• Indicators of malnutrition (poor nourishment, a diet lacking nutrients or too many of the nutrients)

  • Stunting – rates for stunting tend to be higher than wasting, Timor-Leste noted over 50%, other countries in Middle East and Latin America has 3.7%

  • Wasting – defined as more acute short term malnutrition, over 20% children in South Sudan Djibouti and Sri Lanka

  • Undernourished, Haiti over 50%, 30-40% in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, causes include a combination of internal conflicts, climate change, absolute poverty and deprived access to healthcare and sanitation

• Examples: deficiency e.g. pellagra, Kwashiokor, marasmus, obesity, starvation, temporary hunger, famine

Global patterns in health indicators

Global patterns in health indicators

• maternal mortality, annual number of female deaths per 100000 live births

  • Under 3% in HICs (Australia, Singapore, Estonia)

• access to sanitation, OXFORD page 279 Activity 6

• ratio between doctors/physicians and people
  

The epidemiological transition
and the implications of a global population for disease burdeN

• The diseases continuum (diseases of poverty to diseases of affluence),

• Oxford page 274 Activity 4 and Activity 5

Food systems and the
spread of disease

How do physical and human processes lead to changes in food production and consumption and to the incidence and spread of disease?

Key Content:

• A systems approach (inputs, stores, transfers, outputs) comparing energy efficiency and water footprints in food production, and relative sustainability in different places

• Physical and human processes that lead to variations in food consumption

• Diffusion (including adoption/acquisition, expansion, relocation) and its importance in the spread of agricultural innovations and also in the spread of diseases, and the role of geogpraphic factors (including physical, economic and political barriers) in the rate of diffusion.

• How geographic factors contribute to the incidence, diffusion and impacts (demographic and socio-economic) of vector-borne and water-bourne disease
  

Food systems and the spread of disease

A systems approach (inputs, stores, transfers, outputs) comparing energy efficiency and water footprints in food production, and relative sustainability in different places

A systems approach (inputs, stores, transfers, outputs)

• Physical and human processes that lead to variations in food consumption

A systems approach (inputs, stores, transfers, outputs)

• comparing energy efficiency and water footprints in food production, and relative sustainability in different places
  

A systems approach (inputs, stores, transfers, outputs)

• Diffusion (including adoption/acquisition, expansion, relocation) and its importance in the spread of agricultural innovations and also in the spread of diseases, and the role of geogprahic factors (including physical, economic and political barriers) in the rate of diffusion.

A systems approach (inputs, stores, transfers, outputs)

• How geographic factors contribute to the incidence, diffusion and impacts (demographic and socio-economic) of vector-borne and water-bourne disease

Physical and human processes that lead to variations in food consumption

Diffusion (including adoption/acquisition, expansion, relocation)

importance in the spread of agricultural innovations in the spread of diseases, and the role of geographic factors (including physical, economic and political barriers) in the rate of diffusion.

the role of geographic factors (including physical, economic and political barriers) in the rate of diffusion.

How geographic factors contribute to the incidence, diffusion and impacts (demographic and socio-economic) of vector-borne and water-bourne disease?

• 3.Stakeholders in food and health

• What power do different stakeholders have to influence diets and health?

3.Stakeholders in food and health

• What power do different stakeholders have to influence diets and health?

Key content:

The roles of international organisations (such as the World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, and the World Health Organisation), governments and NGOs in combating food insecurity and disease.

The influence of TNCs (agribusinesses and the media) in shaping food consumption habits

Gender roles related to food and health, including food production/acquisition and disparities in health

Factors affecting the severity of famine, including governance, the power of the media and access to international aid.

The roles of international organisations (such as the World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, and the World Health Organisation), governments and NGOs in combating food insecurity and disease.

The influence of TNCs (agribusinesses and the media) in shaping food consumption habits

Gender roles related to food and health, including food production/acquisition and disparities in health

Factors affecting the severity of famine, including governance, the power of the media and access to international aid.

• 4. Future health and food security and sustainability

• What are the future possibilities for sustainable agriculture and improved health?

4. Future health and food security and sustainability

-What are the future possibilities for sustainable agriculture and improved health?

Key Content:

Possible solutions to food insecurity including waste reduction, and attempts to tackle food insecurity

Advantages and disadvantages of contemporary approaches to food production, including genetically modified organisms (GMOs), vertical farming and in viro meat

The merits of prevention and treatment in managing disease, including social marginalization issues, government priorities, means of infection and scientific intervention

Managing pandemics, including the epidemiology of the disease, prior local and global awareness, international action and the role of the media, and lessons learned for pandemic management in the future