Measuring Food And Health Option Flashcards
Nutrition Transition Model (5 stages)
- Hunter gatherer - wild plants, labour intensive, lean, high disease, low fertility, low life expectancy
- Settlements begin, famine emerges - cereals dominate, labour intensive, stature decline, high fertility
- Industrialization, reducing famine - starchy, low variety, low fat, high fibre foods. labour intensive, disease and stunting, slow mortality decline
- Non-communicable diseases - eat fat, sugar, processed foods and caloric beverages. Technology, work, leisure. Obesity emerges, accelerated life expectancy. Higher disability period.
- Desired societal/behavioural change - more fruit, vegetable, fibre, water. Less fat, Doric beverages. Replace sedentary lifestyle (no movement) with purposeful activity.
Causes of world hunger (2)
- Distribution of food - commercial farmers sell to the highest bidder + wheat often goes to cattle farmers
- Agribusinesses and large corporations - persuade subsistence farmers to switch to commercial farming of non-food crops (crop substitution)
Why are there disparities in access to food for LIC? (4) Think about the traditions…
- Subsistence farming and tradition farming methods (less productive)
- Poor storage facilities (insects and pests)
- Absentee landlords (charge excessive rent making farmer trapped in cycle of paying off debt)
- Divided landholdings (many small pieces of land are split among the children of a dead landlord)
What can we introduce to farmers that would increase food security? (4) more material based rather than ideas
- High Yielding Varieties (HYV) - shorter growing cycle + GMO
- Irrigation more widespread
- Mechanical technology
- Chemical pesticides and fertilizers
Health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) definition
Measurement of life lived in full health, adjusts overall life expectancy considering mortality (dead) and morbidity (unhealthy).
Measures both age and sex specific data (quantity and quality of life)
Infant mortality rate
The number of deaths of infants under 1 year old per 1000 live births per year in a given geographical area.
- correlation with Human Development Index
- most countries in sub-Saharan Africa
Maternal mortality
annual # of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy
- conflict —> no access to proper healthcare in birth + less sanitary
- Southern Asia —> high pop density, maternal mortality not prioritized
- improved education
Access to sanitation
Facilities, sewage systems, flush toilets, ventilation
- low access in rural areas (more effective to focus on urban areas bc population density)
- government policies
- exacerbated by population density
Ratio of doctors to people
Physicians per people (can relate to population density)
- May be attributed to the lack of education available to become a doctor or the job demand
- Majority have <2.7 doctors to people vs. Europe and HICs
Epidemiological transition stages (3)
- Era of pestilence and famine - high death rates, low avg life expectancy, high incidence of contagious diseases (HIV, tuberculosis, Leprosy)
- Era of receding pandemics - improvement in quality of medical care, hygiene diets. Increasing population growth, lowering death rates and pandemics
- Era of human induced and degenerative diseases - non-communicable and degenerative (progressive, often irreversible deterioration, and loss of function in the organs or tissues) diseases replace contagious diseases
Diseases of poverty causes (less economically developed, poorer) (6)
- Poor diet
- Hygiene
- Water-borne parasites and bacteria
- Other pests
- Poor public health facilities
- Lower education access
Diseases of affluence causes (increasing wealth) (3)
- Increased longevity (life expectancy)
- Environmental quality
- Overconsumption and lifestyle
6 factors that adjust the health risk of each country
- Healthcare access
- Emergency operations
- Dental
- Prescription medicine
- Infectious diseases (food-borne, Malaria, etc…)
- Population growth
Disease burden definition
Impact of a health issue when measured by its financial cost, mortality, morbidity, etc…
Why are there more problems associated with global aging?
Due to epidemiological transition, especially seen in industrialized HICs. Increasing non-communicable diseases, esp associated with aging : cancer, diabetes, heart disease, dementia
What is the economic and social burden of an aging population and the increase of non-communicable diseases?
Government expenditure on aging populations and healthcare. Long term care costs. Especially affects LIC that experience both infectious, non-communicable diseases, and elderly population.
Double burden of..? (2)
Malnutrition: obesity, overweight, non-communicable diseases and undernourishment/malnutrition
Diseases: non-communicable disease and contagious/infects diseases
Farm system outcomes (3)
- Establish a desired ecosystem
- Manipulate ecosystem by controlling processes
- Harvest outputs of ecosystem
Factors affecting farm characteristics (3)
- Lithosphere - biophysical limits, rocks, soils
- Cultural characteristics and preferences of the farmer
- Location of the farm, climate
Unintended outputs of a farm
Waste water, fertilizers and pesticides, irrigation —> saline water runoff, algal bloom from nitrogen or phosphorus —> consumes oxygen and blocks sunlight
Monoculture definition
Low species diversity (unstable and subsequently costs a lot of money). Sucks the nutrients out of the soil.
Reasons why more pesticides in unsustainable (3)
- Genetic resistance - stronger pest survives and inbreeds
- Kills desirable diseases - accidentally kill the competitor of the pest (birds, etc…)
- Concentrated up the food chain - non-biodegradable, absorbed in fatty tissue of organisms instead of excreted (DDT pesticides)
Food miles definition
Distance that food is transported from the point of production/source to the customer
Why aren’t food miles entirely accurate?
- Doesn’t consider quantity or vehicle used to transport food
- Increased energy use and carbon footprint with local produce (sometimes)
Biophysical factors that exacerbate inequality among farmers
- poorer farmer rely on climate (ex. Water supply is rainfall)
- richer farmers can change the microclimate (ex. Irrigation)
Why do commercial farms have the incentive to invest in technologies for more productivity? + economic and political factors
- efficiency and more profit
- economic factors: wage cost, equipment, transport, economy prices
- political factors: government policies, trading treaties, subsidies and taxes
Why is there a global increase in productivity (despite less land/capital)? (6)
- High yielding varieties of crop - GMO, shorter growing cycle and resistance to diseases
- More irrigation systems
- More chemical pesticides and fertilizers (short-term)
- Widespread mechanical technology
- Changing agricultural workforce - corporations buy farms
- Growth of FREE and FAIR trade
Fair trade definition
Organized social movement that promotes a market-based approach to empowering farmers in poorer countries to sustain vitality
Pay poor and marginalized farmers a fair prices instead of exploitation and enforce environmental and social standards
Expansion diffusion (4)
- innovation, idea, or disease develops in source area, spreads out from there
- becomes more intense at source
- stable and fixed location
- phenomenon moves NOT people
Spread of the diseases of poverty (environmental and social)
- Environmental factors- crowded working and living, inadequate sanitation
- Social factors - malnutrition, wages, working hours, no healthcare
Vector-Bourne diseases
Living organisms that can transmit infectious pathogens between humans. (Global travel, climate change, slums)
Water-borne diseases + how they are spread
Expansion diffusion through dirty water (parasites)
Water in LIC used for different, non-compatible purposes (graze cattle, toilet, clothes)
What biophysical changes trigger Malaria? (3)
- Increased irrigation
- Logging
- Tropical forests (heat)
What are barriers of diffusion for Malaria and why aren’t they ideal? (4)
- Draining swamps and marshes (unaffordable) +bed nets
- Medication (develops resistance and a side effect is blindness!)
- Eliminate mosquitos by filling in irrigation, introducing fish that eat the parasite
- Time-distance decay
How does diarrhoea spread? (3)
- Poor sanitation (open defecation, domesticated animals, no refrigeration for food)
- Access to clean water (poor disposal of faeces)
- Poor nutrition (esp in people with low immunity)
What is the aim of an agribusiness?
To farm large areas of land using a high rate of mechanization to minimize labour needs and maximize profits.
Vertical integration
One firm controls most or all stages of production (TNC can declare profits in country with lost ax rate and avoid large mark ups)
Horizontal integration
One corporation controls several firms within the same industry (monopoly)
Consolidation and why it is harmful for smaller companies AND people
Smaller companies acquired by larger TNC’s to gain customers
—> threatens viability of commodity farmers. Cheaper and more accessible for poorer people. Health problems.
Food sovereignty
Right of the people to have healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through own sustainable agriculture and food
How do transnational corporations affect LICs? (6)
- Control domestic food systems (tax exemption, import cost)
- Local food producers and distributors cannot compete with their cost and political advantage
- Processed foods are more affordable and available
- Dietary adaptation - more processed, refined, and branded
- Fast food chains, restaurants, supermarkets (more convenience)
- Obesity and malnutrition - poor quality and cheap
Why do more females experience malnutrition? (1 A-D)
- Less access to:
A. Education
B. Money
C. Authority
D. improved seeds, fertilizer, equipment in farming
Famine definition
Widespread, prolonged shortage of food that causes diseases and death from starvation within an area
Reasons for famine (6)
- Drought
- Conflict and wars
- Climate change
- Changing food preferences
- Population growth
- Media
Reasons for famine in the Sahel region of Africa (6)
- Drought
- Food reserves low (subsistence farmers turned commercial)
- Global warming and extreme weather
- Population growth - pressure on farmers for overgrazing, deforestation, poor land management
- Political instability and conflicts - displaced people, terrorism, kidnapping
- Mass migration
Economic solutions to food insecurity (2)
- Micro finance - loans given to small-scale farmers (high interest rates + high risk)
- Grow crops for human consumption rather than industrial raw materials (even though lower profits)
Management solutions to food insecurity (4)
- Crop substitution - require less water
- Raising farm productivity - education, better resources for female farmers, better seeds and fertilizer
- Expand commercialization
- Reduce food waste (storage facilities, vermin, bad preparation and management)
Technological solutions to food insecurity (4)
- Expand irrigation
- Improve transportation (railways, roads)
- Improve service infrastructure - electricity to farmers, radio, TV —> more awareness on farming policies + make better choices about crops
- Expand mechanization
Political solutions to food insecurity (7)
- Food aid - weakens long term food security and self sufficiency
- Free trade - threatens local food producers
- Fair trade
- Land reform - amalgamate fragmented farms
- Planning - gov
- Population control
- Peace - instability distrusts transportation and distribution networks + discrimination
Why is there food insecurity in Yemen? (5)
- Terrorist attacks damaged infrastructure
- Destabilized market system
- Internal displacement
- Disrupted government services
- Halted foreign investment and donor supported development
- Weather - 2 hurricane, erratic rainfall.
GMOs (what, adv, disadv, ex)
DNA altered by genetic engineering techniques
Nutritious and tastier, disease and drought resistant, longer shelf life, faster growth rate
Damage natural varieties, super weeds,
Golden rice - vitamin A
Vertical farming (what, adv, disadv)
Urban food production with less land area. Humidity, temperature controlled environment.
Reduced food miles, transportation cost, protect from weather, less pesticides, herbicides, runoff
Requires more CO2 because year round + expensive in urban areas (land price and value)
In Vitro Meat (what, adv, disadv)
Meat produced outside animals using tissue engineering
Future unlimited supply of meat at low cost, enhancable with vitamins, omega 3, less bacteria and diseases
Expensive to produce, need more industrial energy
Curative healthcare
Treatment or diseases with resources such as hospitals, medicine, doctors, surgery (expensive)
Primary healthcare
Combines prevention with cure —> cheaper, contains infections, reduces trauma for body
How did they prevent disease in 1960’s China?
Paramedics with basic training working in rural areas - reduces social marginalization
Pandemic risk of emergence (how does it originate)
High rural population density and contact with livestock. Limited access to clean water, hygiene, low public health
Pandemic risk of spread (how does it spread)
High population density, well-developed transportation, urbanization
Factors that change the capacity to contain a pandemic
Economically less developed, poor health systems
