Finance: Wealth matters

BACKGROUND: The term “food security” defines the imperative that all people at all times should have access to sufficient, nutritious, & culturally appropriate food in order to live a healthy life. Studies demonstrate that food security is linked to positive individual health outcomes. Moreover, food security is linked to community health outcomes, and is essential for robust local & regional economies, political stability, effective education, & a resilient environment. Consequently, measuring food security & understanding its influencing factors are important tasks for stakeholders from across sectors. Four domains have been developed to help describe and measure the food security experience of a given locality: uncertainty/worry, inadequate quality, insufficient quantity, & social unacceptability. The subsequent answers are used to classify households (HHs) into food security levels (i.e., food secure, & mild, moderately, & severely food insecure) to asses food security changes over time and compared with other regions.