Food Security in Remote Communities

Not everyone has access to a grocery store to buy what they need to support their health.

Not everyone has the knowledge, time, or energy to prepare healthy food. Not everyone has the money to afford healthy food. Not everyone has a functional kitchen to store or prepare healthy food.

Just as poverty and income insecurity can lead to poor nutrition, the same dynamic exists in reverse. Poor nutrition undermines health, and then poor health can also contribute to poverty.

Poor nutrition not only leads to chronic disease and emotional distress. It also robs people of opportunities to move out of poverty and improve the prospects of future generations.

Team actions to address food insecurity in WA

We are working with a range of partners to address food security structural risk factors inside homes in remote communities (i.e. addressing the adequate food preparation, storage and cooking facilities).

We are also briefly assessing the remote food retail environment and identifying community stores that do not currently display prices on shelves. These data will initiate policy change to ensure community members are aware of the price of food and household items they choose to purchase.

In line with our principle of not supplying a survey without service, we have partnered with the #endingtrachoma teams to provide emergency plumbing fixes for non-functional kitchen hardware.

For more information, contact Miranda Hendry or Melissa Stoneham.

Food Security Project Overview

Target families living in remote communities

Align with Healthy Living Practice 4 which promotes the ability to improve nutrition and to store prepare and cook food within the home environments

Work alongside an existing project (#endingtrachoma) that enters remote homes to identify, fix & report factors that affect the ability to wash

Yarn around what prevents the family from using the kitchen and what a kitchen might look like if the family had the opportunity to design one

Conduct an audit of food and hygiene products in remote community stores and monitor if process are displayed on shelves

We would like to acknowledge and thank our key advocacy partners