Long-Term Food Insecurity, Hunger and Risky Food Acquisition Practices: A Cross-Sectional Study of Food Charity Recipients in an Australian Capital City

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.

Out-of-pocket expenditure for hypertension care: a population-based study in low-income urban Medellin, Colombia

“…A final finding of importance is that in spite of a small proportion of patients incurring expenses related to HTN dietary requirements, the amount spent by the ones that do so is high on average and a main driver of catastrophic health expenditure, in particular in the lowest socioeconomic quintile. This is in line with evidence that healthier dietary patterns entail cost about 1.50 USD per person a day higher than the least healthy ones [47] and that food insecurity primarily affects people living on stagnant wages in poor urban communities [48,49]. Our findings highlight the vulnerability of the most deprived urban households, for whom even modest expenses to comply with medical dietary prescriptions can lead to financial hardship.…”

The Role of a Food Literacy Intervention in Promoting Food Security and Food Literacy—OzHarvest’s NEST Program

“…Economic access to nutritious food was highlighted as a key barrier to food security, hence the core part of this structural level initiative would ensure that all citizens have a 'right to food', achieved through the provision of an adequate living wage [8]. This study provides further evidence on the need for structural-level initiatives, such as increased government assistance, higher welfare payments (particularly Newstart in Australia), and regulations that create healthier and more affordable food environments for all [8,9,60].…”

“…However, the qualitative data revealed that lack of economic access due to the price and affordability of foods remained a key barrier to food security. This is not surprising, as most interviewees (58.8%) reported very low income levels, relying on ≤AUD $575 per week, compared to the average weekly wage of approximately AUD $1250 in 2019 in Australia [60]. Recent studies have estimated that, for a low-income household to meet the Australian Dietary Guidelines, they would need to spend 30% to 70% of their budget on fruits, vegetables, and healthy food items [9,61,62].…”

“…For example, programs should ensure that food literacy intervention participants can access affordable high-quality foods in the regions where interventions are conducted [17]. As food insecurity can be chronic or transitory [60], such work should also examine whether food security improvements can be maintained over time. This is particularly important, as the strength of food literacy interventions against challenging circumstances such as job loss, addition of members to the household, and illness is unknown.…”

The prevalence, severity and experience of food insecurity in Australia: An investigation of food aid use

“…While the reliance on quantitative methods has allowed for the collection of statistics on the phenomenon, it does not allow for an understanding of the lived experience of using or relying on food aid. Importantly, some of the work that has been conducted on the role of the Australian food aid sector suggests that the sector is changing, with long‐term provision of food assistance increasingly becoming entrenched in the Australian social support network (Lindberg et al., 2015; McKay & McKenzie, 2017; Pollard et al., 2019), mirroring the trajectory of the United Kingdom and Canada. The fundamental shift in the role and responsibility of the Australian food aid sector (McKay & Lindberg, 2019), means that Australian academics and policy makers many not have sufficient information about the current experiences of those accessing food aid.…”