Food Insecurity and Disease ─ Prevalence, Policy, and Politics

Food insecurity and disease are inextricably linked. The chapters in this valuable articles compendium reinforce that message by specifically linking food insecurity to various forms of chronic disease, including HIV/AIDS and obesity, as well as mental health issues.

Providing a nuanced look at food insecurity and its connection to disease, the quality of the research gathered here advances our understanding of this issue; the chapter authors have provided us with a solid foundation on which to build well-informed clinical practice, further research, and effective future policy.

The chapters included are broadly broken into five sections:

• defining food security and insecurity
• food insecurity and mental health
• food insecurity and HIV
• food security and obesity and diabetes
• policy, power, and politics

With a roster of expert contributors from around the world, the book examines a variety of issues, including

• the significant association between food insecurity and mania symptoms
• the relationship between food insecurity and HIV risk
• how food insecurity affects individuals’ ability to manage their diabetes
• the link between obesity and food insecurity
• how food insecurity affects women and girls, who are disproportionately disempowered through current processes and politics of food’s production, consumption, and distribution
• the power of large food corporations over the global food system
• the paradox of the food insecurity and obesity (since 1995 an additional 65 million people are malnourished, and one in five adults is now overweight)

The research in the final section of the book addresses the "what next?" question; other words, how can we shape politics and policy to address this urgent international crisis?

This informative compendium will provide insight on these important issues for

for students and scholars in security studies, international politics, and environmental studies.

Areej Hassan, MD, MPH, is an attending in the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency training in Pediatrics at Brown University before her fellowship at BCH. In addition to primary care, Dr.Hassan focuses her clinical interests on reproductive endocrinology and global health. She also maintains an active role in medical education and has particular interest in building and developing innovative teaching tools through open educational resources. She currently teaches, consults, and is involved in pediatric and adolescent curricula development at multiple sites abroad in Central America and Southeast Asia.