Promotion of food supply and proper nutrition

Promotion of Food Supply and Proper Nutrition

• Undernutrition in Nigeria significantly contributes to morbidity and mortality among infants and young children, and causes anemia in pregnant and lactating mothers.
• Health care workers should ensure family food is available, accessible, adequate, and balanced to ensure food security.

Food Security (FAO Definition)

• Food security, as defined by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), exists when all people have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food.
• This access must meet their dietary needs and preferences for an active and healthy life.
• Food security is described at both national and household levels.
• Availability of adequate, quality food supplies at the national level is necessary, but adequate access by all households is also essential.

Household Security

• Household food security exists when all members have access to enough food for an active, healthy life, preventing need, hunger, and starvation.
• Education and community enlightenment are crucial for ensuring equitable consumption and a foundation for a healthy, well-managed population.
• A household is a group of people living in the same house and sharing meals.

Nutrition

• Nutrition is the science studying how the body uses food for growth, repair, and work.
• Food is a basic human need, and nutrition includes the processes of eating, digesting, absorbing, and using food for body maintenance, growth, development, and repair.

Nutritional Status

• Nutritional status refers to an individual's health as influenced by nutrient intake and utilization.
• Adequate food security is essential for maintaining good nutritional status.
• Promoting food security involves food production, storage, processing, distribution, and ensuring food safety.
• Proper nutrition strengthens disease protection, boosts immunity, and aids quick recovery from illness, requiring sufficient but not excessive energy sources.

Malnutrition Statistics and Impact

• Recent surveys indicate a high prevalence of undernutrition among children under five years old.
• The 2018 Global Nutrition Report states malnutrition is unacceptably high worldwide.
• In 2017, 22.2% of children under 5 were stunted, with 149 million stunted children globally.
• Low and middle-income countries face both extremes of malnutrition.
• UNICEF reported stunting rate at 21.9%, wasting rate at 7.3%, and overweight at 5.99% in 2017.
• In 2018, half of all stunted children under 5 lived in Asia, and over one-third in Africa, while 61% of wasted children lived in Asia, and 28% in Africa.

Forms of Malnutrition

• Common nutritional disorders include protein-energy malnutrition (Marasmus and Kwashiorkor) and micronutrient deficiencies (iron, iodine, vitamin).
• Iron deficiencies lead to anemia and iodine deficiencies to goiter.
• Pregnancy increases the risk of deficiencies due to increased bodily needs.

Preventing and Treating Deficiencies

• Deficiencies can be prevented through surveillance and promotion of correct food and nutrition practices, including exclusive breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding.
• Treatment involves appropriate measures in accordance with standing orders.
• Infants, children, pregnant and lactating mothers, and the aged are highly susceptible to malnutrition.
• Intersectoral actions and community health workers are crucial in preventing malnutrition and enhancing food security.

Requirements for Household Food Security

• Adequate food supply at the local level
• Food accessibility
• Stability in food availability

Food Utilization and Health

• Food must provide all nutrients for good nutrition, energy, growth, and health.
• Individuals need to be in good health to absorb and utilize nutrients effectively.

Types of Food Insecurity

• Food insecurity is the absence of food security, indicating the state or risk of being unable to provide food for oneself, family, household, or a nation.
• The three types of food insecurity are chronic, transitory, and seasonal.

Chronic Food Insecurity

• Chronic food insecurity is when a household or nation cannot meet minimum nutrient intake requirements over a long period, often due to household poverty.
• It results in underweight and stunted growth in children, as well as high infant and child mortality rates.
• "Hidden hunger" describes a lack of essential micronutrients, affecting over 2 billion people globally.
• Causes include extended poverty and lack of access to productive/financial resources.

Transitory Food Insecurity

• Transitory food insecurity is short-term or temporary, affecting households that usually meet their food needs but cannot after shocks like drought, flood, or civil unrest.
• These events cause a sudden drop in the ability to produce or access enough food.
• The causes include short-term shocks and fluctuations in food availability and access.

Shocks Causing Transitory Food Insecurity

• Work shocks: sudden fall in work availability or wage rates.
• Output shocks: decline in production output or income from work.
• Food shocks: reduced food availability in the market and/or increased food prices.
• Asset shocks: reduction in household asset quantity/value due to fire, flood, theft, or livestock death.
• Other causes are drought, floods, and civil unrest.

Seasonal Food Insecurity

• Seasonal food insecurity occurs due to seasonal or cyclical patterns of inadequate availability and access to food.
• Causes include seasonal variations in climate, cropping patterns, work opportunities, and disease prevalence.
• In Nigeria, May to early August is often called the "hunger month" due to inadequate staple food supply before the new harvest season.

Strategies to Address Food Insecurity

• Addressing chronic food insecurity requires long-term development measures to reduce poverty.
• Measures include education, access to productive resources (credit facilities), and direct food aid.
• Addressing transitory food insecurity requires unpredictable and sudden interventions.
• Important factors include early warning systems and safety net programs.
• Addressing seasonal food insecurity involves predictable measures like appropriate food storage, changing farming techniques (irrigation), and introducing crops that withstand adverse conditions.

Dimensions of Food Security

• Physical Availability of Food: Determined by food production levels, stock levels, and net trade.
• It relies on good harvesting, storage, efficient marketing, and food processing.
• Economic and Physical Access to Food: Households need resources, ability, and knowledge to produce or procure culturally acceptable food.
• Important considerations include income, expenditure patterns, markets, and food prices.
• Food Utilization: Refers to the body’s use of nutrients, which determines nutritional status.
• Helpful factors include good caring and feeding practices, food preparation, dietary diversification, and equitable food distribution within the household.
• Stability: Determined by the stability of food availability, economic access, and stability in food stabilization.

Threats to Stability

• Adverse weather conditions
• Political instability
• Economic downturn
• Unemployment
• Rising food prices
• Communal clashes

Role of Government in Ensuring Food Security

• Encouraging food production through agricultural policies, subsidized inputs (seedlings, fertilizers, machinery), and agricultural extension services.
• Determining food import and export policies.
• Providing strategic food reserves for times of adversity (drought, disasters).
• Increasing purchasing power through employment, minimum wages, and support for farmers.
• Subsidies for staple foods and nutritional programs for vulnerable groups.
• Conflict resolution to ensure food delivery.
• Developing partnerships for new food sources.

Roles of Families

• Ensuring a reliable income, as it correlates with nutritional status.
• Managing availability of resources like land and money.
• Effective budgeting and adequate provision for family food.
• Growing high-yield and diverse crops to avoid hunger.
• Appropriate food storage and preservation.
• Adequate child spacing.
• Providing appropriate nutrition and education.