Abstract
Inadequate social protection, stagnant wages, unemployment, and homelessness are associated with Australian household food insecurity. Little is known about the recipients of food charity and whether their needs are being met. This cross-sectional study of 101 food charity recipients in Perth, Western Australia, measured food security, weight status, sociodemographic characteristics and food acquisition practices. Seventy-nine percent were male, aged 21–79 years, 90% were unemployed, 87% received social assistance payments, and 38% were homeless. Ninety-one percent were food insecure, 80% with hunger, and 56% had gone a day or more without eating in the previous week. Fifty-seven percent had used food charity for ≥1 year, and, of those, 7.5 years was the mode. Charitable services were the main food source in the previous week, however 76% used multiple sources. Begging for money for food (36%), begging for food (32%), stealing food or beverages (34%), and taking food from bins (28%) was commonplace. The omnipresence and chronicity of food insecurity, reliance on social security payments, and risky food acquisition suggest that both the social protection and charitable food systems are failing. Urgent reforms are needed to address the determinants of food insecurity (e.g., increased social assistance payments, employment and housing support) and the adequacy, appropriateness and effectiveness of food charity.
Highlights
IntroductionThey are less resilient when faced with sudden events such as sickness, job or housing loss because they have limited reserves and a single event can cause a series of events over which they have little control
People facing uncertainty and risk in several areas of their lives are said to live in ‘precarious’circumstances [1]
The need to seek food assistance in the current study suggests that social security payments are inadequate, and, when compared to the proportion of people accessing social welfare payments in 2012, the situation has worsened over time
Summary
They are less resilient when faced with sudden events such as sickness, job or housing loss because they have limited reserves and a single event can cause a series of events over which they have little control. Social inequity and precarious living circumstances can result in health inequalities [2,3] including: smoking related conditions, cardiovascular disease, alcoholism and drug addiction, obesity, chronic infections, poor mental health and malnutrition [4,5]. Food insecurity, defined as the limited or uncertain availability of individuals’ and households’ physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe, nutritious and culturally relevant food [6] is associated with. Public Health 2019, 16, 2749; doi:10.3390/ijerph16152749 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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