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ABSTRACT: The authors examine the impact of urbanization on food security and human health in the Middle East. Within-urban-population disparities in food security represent one of the most dramatic indicators of economic and health disparities. These disparities are reflected in a double burden of health outcomes: increasing levels of chronic disease as well as growing numbers of undernourished among the urban poor. These require further comprehensive solutions. Some of the factors leading to food insecurity are an overdependence on purchased food commodities, lack of sufficient livelihoods, rapid reductions in peripheral agricultural land, and adverse impacts of climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Food Security Framework is used to examine and compare 2 cities in the Middle East: Amman, Jordan, and Manama, Bahrain.
Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 07/2010; 22(3 Suppl):254S-261S. · 1.06 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Poor nutrition, foodborne disease and lack of secure access to good food make an important contribution to the burden of disease and death in the WHO European Region. Better diets, food safety and food security will not only reduce or prevent suffering to individuals and societies but also help cut costs to health care systems and bring social and economic benefits to countries. People's chances for a healthy diet depend less on individual choices than on what food is available and whether it is affordable. Policies to benefit health through good food and nutrition must extend beyond the health sector to include sectors ranging from agriculture and food processing, manufacturing and trade to transport, retailing, catering and advertising. Food and nutrition policies should be coordinated so that public health is given due priority in the making of food policies by non-health sectors. This publication discusses in depth the components of food and nutrition policies and the evidence supporting them. It describes food- and nutrition-related ill health and its costs, shows the need for action and describes the steps for decision-makers to take. This book highlights the urgent need for integrated, multisectoral food and nutrition policies to encourage the sustainable production of food, its safety and the provision of food of high nutritional quality for all.
WHO regional publications. European series 02/2004;
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Nigina Muntean,
Marco Jermini,
Ian Small,
Dennis Falzon,
Peter Fürst,
Giacomo Migliorati,
Giampiero Scortichini,
Anna Francesca Forti,
Elke Anklam,
Christoph von Holst,
Bakhtier Niyazmatov,
Shakub Bahkridinov,
Roger Aertgeerts,
Roberto Bertollini, Cristina Tirado,
Anthony Kolb
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ABSTRACT: A 1999 study heightened long-standing concerns over persistent organic pollutant contamination in the Aral Sea area, detecting elevated levels in breast milk and cord blood of women in Karakalpakstan (western Uzbekistan). These findings prompted a collaborative research study aimed at linking such human findings with evidence of food chain contamination in the area. An international team carried out analyses of organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) on samples of 12 foods commonly produced and consumed in Karakalpakstan. Analysis consistently detected long-lasting organochlorine pesticides and their metabolites in all foods of animal origin and in some vegetables such as onions and carrots--two low-cost components of many traditional dishes. Levels of PCBs were relatively low in all samples except fish. Analyses revealed high levels of PCDDs and PCDFs (together often termed "dioxins") in sheep fat, dairy cream, eggs, and edible cottonseed oil, among other foodstuffs. These findings indicate that food traditionally grown, sold, and consumed in Karakalpakstan is a major route of human exposure to several persistent toxic contaminants, including the most toxic of dioxins, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD). Intake estimations demonstrate that consumption of even small amounts of locally grown food may expose consumers to dioxin levels that considerably exceed the monthly tolerable dioxin intake levels set by the World Health Organization. Data presented in this study allow a first assessment of the risk associated with the consumption of certain food products in Karakalpakstan and highlight a critical public health situation.
Environmental Health Perspectives 09/2003; 111(10):1306-11. · 7.04 Impact Factor
