1,720,996 research outputs found
Rising food insecurity in Europe
No full textPeople queueing for food aid is an image reminiscent of the Great Depression in the 1930s, but one that has come to characterise many European nations in the grip of austerity today. In 2013–14, the UK's Trussell Trust, a national network of food banks, provided emergency food aid to more than 900 000 adults and children, a 163% increase from the previous year.1 Greek, Spanish, and French charities have also reported marked rises in the number of people seeking emergency food support.2 Alongside clinical evidence of rising nutritional deficiencies,2,3 these reports suggest that a problem is emerging, but to what extent is food insecurity rising across Europe
Food insecurity and social protection in Europe: quasi-natural experiment of Europe’s Great Recessions 2004-2012.
Full text linkFood insecurity rose sharply in Europe after 2009, but marked variation exists across countries and over time. We test whether social protection programmes protected people from food insecurity arising from economic hardship across Europe. Data on household food insecurity covering 21 EU countries from 2004-2012 were taken from Eurostat 2015 edition and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Cross-national first difference models were used to evaluate how rising unemployment and declining wages related to changes in the prevalence of food insecurity and the role of social protection expenditure in modifying observed effects. Economic hardship was strongly associated with greater food insecurity. Each 1 percentage point rise in unemployment rates was associated with an estimated 0.29 percentage point rise in food insecurity (95% CI: 0.10 to 0.49). Similarly, each 1,000 USD decrease in annual average wages was associated with a 0.62 percentage point increase in food insecurity (95% CI: 0.27 to 0.97). Greater social protection spending mitigated these risks. Each 1000 USD spent per capita reduced the associations of rising unemployment and declining wages with food insecurity by 0.05 percentage points (95% CI: -0.10 to -0.0007) and 0.10 (95% CI: -0.18 to -0.006), respectively. The estimated effects of economic hardship on food insecurity became insignificant when countries spent more than 10 000 USD per capita on social protection. Rising unemployment and falling wages are strong statistical determinants of increasing food insecurity, but at high levels of social protection, these associations could be prevented
The growing disconnect between food prices and wages in Europe: cross-national analysis of food deprivation and welfare regimes in twenty-one EU countries, 2004-2012
Full text linkFood insecurity has been rising across Europe following the Great Recession, but to varying degrees across countries and over time. The reasons for this increase are not well understood, nor are what factors might protect people’s access to food. Here we test the hypothesis that an emerging gap between food prices and wages can explain increases in reported inability to afford protein-rich foods and whether welfare regimes can mitigate its impact. We collected data in twenty-one countries from 2004 to 2012 using two databases: (i) on food prices and deprivation related to food (denoted by reported inability to afford to eat meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian equivalent every second day) from EuroStat 2015 edition; and (ii) on wages from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2015 edition. After adjusting for macroeconomic factors, we found that each 1 % rise in the price of food over and above wages was associated with greater self-reported food deprivation (β=0·060, 95 % CI 0·030, 0·090), particularly among impoverished groups. However, this association also varied across welfare regimes. In Eastern European welfare regimes, a 1 % rise in the price of food over wages was associated with a 0·076 percentage point rise in food deprivation (95 % CI 0·047, 0·105) while in Social Democratic welfare regimes we found no clear association (P=0·864). Rising prices of food coupled with stagnating wages are a major factor driving food deprivation, especially in deprived groups; however, our evidence indicates that more generous welfare systems can mitigate this impact
Impact of Welfare Benefit Sanctioning on Food Insecurity : A Dynamic Cross-Area Study of Food Bank Usage in the UK
Full text linkSince 2009, the UK has witnessed marked increases in the rate of sanctions applied to unemployment insurance claimants, as part of a wider agenda of austerity and welfare reform. In 2013, over one million sanctions were applied, stopping benefit payments for a minimum of four weeks and potentially leaving people facing economic hardship and driving them to use food banks. Here we explore whether sanctioning is associated with food bank use by linking data from The Trussell Trust Foodbank Network with records on sanctioning rates across 259 local authorities in the UK. After accounting for local authority differences and time trends, the rate of adults fed by food banks rose by an additional 3.36 adults per 100,000 (95% CI: 1.71 to 5.01) as the rate of sanctioning increased by 10 per 100,000 adults. The availability of food distribution sites affected how tightly sanctioning and food bank usage were associated (p < 0.001); in areas with few distribution sites, rising sanctions led to smaller increases in food bank usage. In conclusion, sanctioning is closely linked with rising food bank usage, but the impact of sanctioning on household food insecurity is not fully reflected in available data
Is trade liberalisation a vector for the spread of sugar-sweetened beverages? A cross-national longitudinal analysis of 44 low- and middle-income countries.
Full text linkDoes trade and investment liberalisation increase the growth in sales of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs)? Here, for the first time to our knowledge, we test this hypothesis using a unique data source on SSB-specific trade flows. We test whether lower tariffs effectively increase imports of SSBs, and whether a higher level of imports increase sales of SSBs. Cross-national fixed effects models were used to evaluate the association between SSBs sales and trade liberalisation. SSBs per capita sales data were taken from EuroMonitor, covering 44 low- and middle-income countries from 2001 to 2014, SSBs import data were from TradeMap, Foreign Direct Investment data were from EuroMonitor, and data on applied tariffs on SSB from the World Trade Organisation tariffs database, all 2015 editions. The results show that higher tariffs on SSBs significantly decreased per capita SSB imports. Each one percent increase in tariffs was associated with a 2.9% (95% CI: 0.9%-5%) decrease in imports of SSBs. In turn, increased imports of SSBs were significantly associated with greater sales of SSBs per capita, with each 10 percent increase in imports (in US$) associated with a rise in sales of 0.36 L per person (95% CI: 0.08-0.68). Between 2001 and 2014, this amounted to 9.1 L greater sales per capita, about 40% of the overall rise seen in this period in LMICs. We observed that tariffs were inversely but not significantly associated with sales of SSBs. In conclusion, lower tariffs substantially increased imports of SSBs in LMICs, which translated into greater sales. These findings suggest that trade policies which lower tariff barriers to SSB imports can be expected to lead to increased imports and then increased sales of SSBs in LMICs, with adverse consequences for obesity and the diseases that result from it
Textual analysis of sugar industry influence on the World Health Organization's 2015 sugars intake guideline.
Full text linkOBJECTIVE: To determine whether sugar industry-related organizations influenced textual changes between the draft and final versions of the World Health Organization's (WHO's) 2015 guideline Sugars intake for adults and children. METHODS: Stakeholder consultation submissions on the draft guideline from seven sugar industry-related and 10 public health organizations were assessed using the Wordscores program. Document scores were rescaled using the Martin-Vanberg transformation to improve comparability. Draft and final guidelines were compared to identify changes influenced by the sugar industry and public health organizations. FINDINGS: There was a small shift in transformed Wordscores score between the draft and final guidelines, from 0.25 to 0.24, towards the industry position. The change was linked to increased use of the word "low" to describe the quality of the evidence, consistent with industry arguments. There was also a shift from use of the word "consumption" to "intake", irrespective of policy position. Scores for World Sugar Research Organisation and Sugar Nutrition UK submissions ( 0.11 and 0.18, respectively) represented strong pro-industry positions and scores for European Public Health Alliance and Wemos submissions (1.00 and 0.88, respectively) represented the strongest public health positions. Industry tactics included challenging the quality of the evidence, distinguishing between different types of sugar and advocating harm reduction. CONCLUSION: There was little change between draft and final versions of the WHO sugars intake guideline 2015, following industry consultation. The main change was linked to emphasizing the low quality of the evidence on sugar's adverse effects. Guideline development appeared relatively resistant to industry influence at the stakeholder consultation stage
The impact of housing payment problems on health status during economic recession: A comparative analysis of longitudinal EU SILC data of 27 European states, 2008-2010
Full text linkAlthough the recent Great Recession had its origins in the housing sector, the short-term health impact of the housing crisis is not well understood. We used longitudinal data to evaluate the impact of housing payment problems on health status among home-owners and renters in 27 European states. Multi-level and fixed-effects models were applied to a retrospective cohort drawn from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey of employed persons, comprising those without housing arrears in the base year 2008 and followed through to 2010 (n=45,457 persons, 136,371 person-years). Multi-variate models tested the impact of transitioning into housing payment arrears on self-reported health (0-worst to 4-best), adjusting for confounders including age, sex, baseline health, and individual fixed effects. Transitioning into housing arrears was associated with a significant deterioration in the health of renters (-0.09 units, 95% CI -0.05 to -0.13), but not owners (0.00, 95% CI -0.05 to 0.06), after adjusting for individual fixed effects. This effect was independent of and greater than the impact of job loss for the full sample (-0.05, 95% CI -0.002 to -0.09). The magnitude of this association varied across countries; the largest adverse associations were observed for renters in Belgium, Austria, and Italy. There was no observed protective association of differing categories of social protection or of the housing regulatory structure for renters. Women aged 30 and over who rented appeared to have worse self-reported health when transitioning into arrears than other groups. Renters also fared worse in those countries where house prices were escalating. We therefore find that housing payment problems are a significant risk factor for worse-self reported health in persons who are renting their homes. Future research is needed to understand potential sources of health resilience among renters, especially at a time when housing prices are rising in many European states
The impact of the housing crisis on self-reported health in Europe: multilevel longitudinal modelling of 27 EU countries
Full text linkBackground: Many EU nations experienced a significant housing crisis during the Great Recession of 2008-2010. We evaluated the consequences of housing payment problems for people’s self-reported overall health. Methods: We used longitudinal data from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) survey covering 27 countries from 2008-2010 to follow a baseline sample of persons who did not have housing debt and who were employed (45,457 persons, 136,371 person-years). Multivariate linear regression and multilevel models were used to evaluate the impact of transitions into housing arrears on self-reported health, correcting for the presence of chronic illness, health limitations, and other potential socio-demographic confounders. Results: Persons who transitioned into housing arrears experienced a significant deterioration in self-reported overall health by -0.03 units (95% CI -0.01 to -0.04), even after correcting for chronic illness, disposable income and employment status, and individual fixed effects. This association was independent and similar in magnitude to that for job loss (-0.02, 95% CI: -0.01 to -0.04). We also found that the impact of housing arrears was significantly worse among renters, corresponding to a mean 0.11 unit additional drop in health as compared with owner-occupiers. These adverse associations were only evident in persons below the 75th percentile of disposable income. Discussion: Our analysis demonstrates that persons who suffer housing arrears experience increased risk of worsening self-reported health, especially among those who rent. Future research is needed to understand the role of alternative housing support systems and available strategies for preventing the health consequences of housing insecurity
'First, do no harm': are disability assessments associated with adverse trends in mental health? A longitudinal ecological study.
No full textIn England between 2010 and 2013, just over one million recipients of the main out-of-work disability benefit had their eligibility reassessed using a new functional checklist-the Work Capability Assessment. Doctors and disability rights organisations have raised concerns that this has had an adverse effect on the mental health of claimants, but there are no population level studies exploring the health effects of this or similar policies.
METHOD:
We used multivariable regression to investigate whether variation in the trend in reassessments in each of 149 local authorities in England was associated with differences in local trends in suicides, self-reported mental health problems and antidepressant prescribing rates, while adjusting for baseline conditions and trends in other factors known to influence mental ill-health.
RESULTS:
Each additional 10 000 people reassessed in each area was associated with an additional 6 suicides (95% CI 2 to 9), 2700 cases of reported mental health problems (95% CI 548 to 4840), and the prescribing of an additional 7020 antidepressant items (95% CI 3930 to 10100). The reassessment process was associated with the greatest increases in these adverse mental health outcomes in the most deprived areas of the country, widening health inequalities.
CONCLUSIONS:
The programme of reassessing people on disability benefits using the Work Capability Assessment was independently associated with an increase in suicides, self-reported mental health problems and antidepressant prescribing. This policy may have had serious adverse consequences for mental health in England, which could outweigh any benefits that arise from moving people off disability benefits
Austerity, sanctions, and the rise of food banks in the UK.
Full text linkDoctors are witnessing increasing numbers of patients seeking referrals to food banks in the United Kingdom. Rachel Loopstra and colleagues ask, is this due to supply or demand
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