INFORMATION RESOURCES ON FOOD AND HEALTH
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Food poverty – EMPHO resources
Food Poverty Measurement Toolkit
There are a number of different methods available to measure food poverty and accessibility to healthy food in a local area. However, it is often difficult to determine which of the methods are most suitable for specific areas and population groups, and there is a need to better understand what answers can be gained from these measures to ensure their appropriateness to the project in question.
The aim of this toolkit is to provide a briefing on some of the methods that are available to measure accessibility to healthy food to allow for a greater understanding of the practical implementation of these methods in local areas. We have attempted to identify the key elements of each method; the skills and resources that would be required for its implementation; the information that could be attained from its use and subsequent interpretation into action.
It is hoped that this will promote the use of such methods in local areas to examine accessibility to healthy food, and allow for a more detailed investigation of this issue in areas of need. Through clarification of each of the methods available, it is hoped that local areas will be able to identify the method that is most suitable to their needs allowing for a better use of resources locally.
This toolkit is not an exhaustive list of methods available to measure food accessibility. We have attempted to identify those which have been used in local areas of the UK, but please do not hesitate to contact EMPHO should you have details of methods not listed in this toolkit. It is also important to note that this toolkit is designed to be a dynamic resource and methods will be continually added.
Understanding food poverty
Food poverty has been defined in a number of ways but can be typically
thought to relate to those individuals and households that are unable to
obtain a nutritionally adequate diet. The “Understanding Food Poverty” report below examines
food poverty and accessibility in further detail, including the examination
of a number of important elements such as differences between urban and
rural areas. It is hoped that this report will increase the knowledge and
understanding of food poverty issues for those working in food and health
related fields and support the planning and development of programmes
wishing to address food poverty in their area.
Food Access Initiatives
There are a wide range of different local food initiatives that can help to improve access to healthy food in a local area. This report details a number of these initiative types and their role in addressing poor accessibility to healthy food in different communities. Where possible, case study examples are provided and links to relevant documents or web-sites that provide further information on these initiatives.
EMPHO Food Poverty Seminar
In February 2010, EMPHO and the Regional Public Health Group convened a Food Poverty Seminar. The aim of the seminar was to:
- Inform food activists of food poverty work being undertaken in the East Midlands, plus relevant work from other regions
- Learn about different approaches to food access mapping and have a dialogue with their developers about their relative strengths and weaknesses
- Compare notes on the ways they are identifying and addressing food access problems in their own localities; and
- Provide an opportunity for networking with other food activists within the region.
Delegates had the opportunity to attend a number of workshops on the data. These included: Measuring Food Poverty; Community Cafes; Social Marketing; Community Food Growing; Sustainable Food Policy; and Food Co-ops.
Please click on the links below to see the notes and presentations from the day's proceedings.
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PAGE CREATED: 21 August 2009 | PAGE REVISED: 13 April 2010