Food Insecurity among Older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Abstract

It is well established that Indigenous populations are at a heightened risk of food insecurity. Yet, although populations (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous) are ageing, little is understood about the levels of food insecurity experienced by older Indigenous peoples. Using Australian data, this study examined the prevalence and correlates of food insecurity among older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Using nationally representative data, we employed ordinal logistic regression models to investigate the association between socio-demographic characteristics and food insecurity. We found that 21% of the older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population were food insecure, with 40% of this group exposed to food insecurity with food depletion and inadequate intake. This places this population at a 5 to 7-fold risk of experiencing food insecurity relative to their older non-Indigenous peers. Measures of geography, language and low socio-economic status were highly associated with exposure to food insecurity. Addressing food insecurity offers one pathway to reduce the disparity in health outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians. Policies that consider both remote and non-remote Australia, as well as those that involve Aboriginal people in their design and implementation are needed to reduce food insecurity.

The Association between Stressful Events and Food Insecurity: Cross-Sectional Evidence from Australia

“…Although this result is not unexpected, interpreting this result requires some caution due to the high prevalence of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care relative to non-Indigenous children [ 53 ]. As the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population are at a considerably higher risk of food insecurity in Australia, it may be that the measure of removal of children is confounding this effect [ 23 ]. Notwithstanding, just under 3% of the Australian population were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the 2016 Census of Population and Housing and it is not clear how many Aboriginal respondents were included in the GSS.…”

“…Following this study, most Australian analyses of food insecurity tend to focus on population sub groups. For example, homeless or ‘at risk’ youth [ 58 ], students [ 10 , 59 ], refugees [ 60 , 61 ], children or families with young children [ 19 , 20 , 21 ], Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders [ 23 , 62 ], older Australians [ 14 , 16 , 22 , 23 , 63 , 64 ], those living in disadvantaged suburbs [ 20 , 65 ] or middle-income groups [ 11 ]. Most Australian studies also focus on cities or states: Adelaide and South Australia [ 9 , 58 ], Sydney and New South Wales [ 14 , 20 , 22 , 63 ] Brisbane Queensland [ 10 , 17 , 65 ] Melbourne and Victoria [ 11 , 15 ] or Tasmania and the Northern Territory [ 18 , 19 ].…”

“…However, the experience of food insecurity is not evenly spread throughout the Australian population, with a growing number of studies showing that constellations of socio-economic, demographic and geographic factors are associated with food insecurity. For example, young age, being divorced or separated, low income, low education, low financial resources, a high number of resident children, poor health, not owning your home, being unemployed, being an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and measures of spatial disadvantage are all associated with experiencing food insecurity in Australia [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

Population‐based interventions addressing food insecurity in Australia: A systematic scoping review

“…To date, national monitoring of the prevalence of FI has been limited to a validated, single‐item measure within the National Health Survey every 3 years, “In the last 12 months, have you run out of food before you had money to purchase more” . While this single‐item measure indicates that at least 4% of Australian households do not have sufficient food, it may underestimate the “true burden” of FI and not capture its complexity . Importantly, this single‐item measure is unable to capture the severity nor temporality of FI experienced by various socio‐demographic groups within Australia .…”

Exploration of Food-Seeking Behaviour, Food Preparation, and Restrictions to Sufficient Food among the Jahai Sub-Tribe (Indigenous People) in Gerik, Malaysia

“…Despite there being sufficient global food production to meet the need of the population [18], an estimated 821.6 million of the world's population were reported to experience hunger in 2018 worldwide [19]. Both the general population [20] and the indigenous communities [21] are facing issues related to food access, which is linked with the high prevalence of individual and household food insecurity.…”