F1: Measuring Food and Health

Ways of measuring disparities in food and health between places

“The world has enough for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed”

-Mahatma Gandhi

What is a healthy diet?

What social factors lead to hunger and malnutrition?

How to physical and human processes lead to changes in food production and consumption?

What power do different stakeholders have to influence diets?

1. Ways of measuring disparities in food between places:

Global patterns in food/nutrition indicators:

In your table groups, answer the following questions using Nagle and Cooke p. 265-273, or chartsbin.com, or other statistic sites.

Daily calorie intake per capita

  • What is the world average?
  • Find the definition of a Calorie
  • What is the recommended calorie intake per day of a men and women. Why is it different?
  • What is the pattern on the choropleth map below
  • Find one anomaly and explain it
  • Look at this map. What seems to be the correlation between life expectancy and calorie intake per capita across the world? Can you guess a possible flaw in this correlation?

Hunger index

  • Define:
    • Global hunger index (4 components) and it's unit
    • hunger (chronic and periodic)
    • famine
  • Describe and explain the trend on the choropleth map below
  • Find one anomaly and try to explain it
  • Look at the graphs on p. 269 of N&C: Describe the trends of Hunger over time.

Food Security Index

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

FAO: State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World

  • Define Global food security index (3 components) and it's unit
  • Describe the trend found on the graph below
  • Find one anomaly and explain it
  • Explain the factors leading to food insecurity on the graph below?

Indicators of Malnutrition

What variables could be used to measure a country or region's malnutrition?

  • Each of you will briefly explain one of the following to the class, including causes and symptoms, with a specific example or people and places.
    1. Malnutrition
    2. Deficiency Disease
    3. Kwashiorkor
    4. Marasmus
    5. Obesity
    6. Starvation
    7. Temporary Hunger
    8. Famine
    9. Stunting
    10. Wasting
    11. Undernourishment

Create one slide here

What other indicators could be used to measure a region's level of malnutrition?

The Nutrition Transition

Nagle and Cooke p. 273

Nutrition transition is the shift in dietary consumption and energy expenditure that coincides with economic, demographic, and epidemiological changes.

From carbohydrates and high physical activity to carbohydrates, fat, dairy and sugar diet and low physical activity.

Exercise:

In one paragraph, explain the nutrition transition, associated regional variations of food consumption and nutrition choices [6] (use the maps above and in N&C)

2. Ways of measuring disparities in health between places:

Global patterns in health indicators

  • Describe the changes in life expectancy over the past 50 years
  • Describe and account for the contrast in life expectancies between HICs and LICs

You need to know the global distribution of:

  • health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) (SDG #3)
  • infant mortality
  • maternal mortality (MDG #5)
  • access to sanitation (SDG #6)
  • ratio between doctors/physicians and people (SDG #3)
0.health intro.pptx

Discuss:

  • What is meant by the term “burden of ill health?”
  • What are the benefits and drawbacks of using the following as an indicator of health:
    • HALE
    • Access to safe drinking water
    • Health Services accessibility
  • What is the relationship between health and life expectancy?
  • Do longer lives necessarily mean healthier lives?
  • Which of the indicators discussed above would be the best indicator of health?
  • Using this document, define, then give 2 causes and 2 symptoms of the following diseases, with a specific example or people and places.
    1. Cholera
    2. Dysentery
    3. Viral Hepatitis
    4. Diarrheal disease
    5. Diabetes
    6. Stroke
    7. Cerebra Vascular disease
    8. Heart Disease
  • Could we categorize diseases of affluence and diseases of poverty?
    • What would be the main factors?

The Epidemiological Transition:

As a class, complete this google doc using the WHO website

  • What are the trends?
  • Could we categorize diseases of affluence and diseases of poverty?
    • What would be the main factors?
F1: Epidemiological Model

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

  • On the board, we will make a list of examples where a) women and b) men are unequal or under represented in today's society
  • Then we will explain the ways each of these impact their food security and access to healthcare
Gender roles related to food and health

Exercise:

In groups of 2, describe the main goal of each of the following, and give one example of how they combat food insecurity and one example of combating disease (if applicable)

You will present your findings to the class and put your notes down on this document.

  • World Food Programme
  • Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  • World Health Organization
  • The South Sudan governments
  • OXFAM's effort in South Sudan

Discuss: How do the roles of these organizations differ, in combating hunger and disease?