In your own community, you may have learned about the existence of food-insecure households. There are two forms of food insecurity: chronic and acute. Chronic food insecurity is commonly described as the result of overwhelming poverty that is reflected in a lack of assets (livelihoods). In general, acute food insecurity is considered to be more of a short-term phenomenon related to man-made natural shocks or to unusual natural phenomena, such as drought.
While the chronically food insecure population may experience a food deficit in relation to needs in a given year, regardless of the impact of crises, people with acute food insecurity need short-term assistance to help them cope with unusual circumstances that temporarily affect their lives and livelihoods. Both chronic and acute problems of food insecurity are widespread and serious in Ethiopia. Survival strategies must be analyzed in their context and, in complex emergencies, the situation is different from situations related to consecutive seasons of crop failure or seasonal drops in the amount of food or resources stored to obtain food. Drought affects the ability of livestock to survive (see Figure 8), but food insecurity has worsened in recent years for several reasons.
In this approach, supplementary foods are limited to those identified as the most malnourished or the most nutritionally vulnerable or at risk during nutritional emergencies. The defining characteristic of very low food security is that, sometimes, during the year, household members' food intake is reduced and their normal eating patterns are interrupted because the household lacks money and other resources to buy food. If you think about food insecurity in your own community, you may have noticed several different causes. In this session, you will be introduced to the topic of general food scarcity at the household level (household food insecurity).
Rationing food consumption is a very common response and is usually initiated and planned long before any asset is sold. In conclusion, food insecurity forces households to use survival strategies that, over time, can have negative health consequences, especially for vulnerable segments of the population. All households without children classified as having very low food security reported at least 6 of these conditions, and 69 percent reported 7 or more. Food security isn't just a problem of poverty; it's a much bigger problem that involves the entire food system and affects all of us in some way.
Food insecurity reduces the consumption of adequate and balanced food, leading to poor physical growth and mental development. Because dependence on food aid is a major concern in Ethiopia, 80% of food aid is distributed through the EGS, especially in areas with chronic food insecurity. Right now, everything else has failed to provide sufficient quantities of food or the crisis has dragged on into a terrible situation. Food insecurity is defined as the lack of constant access to sufficient food so that everyone in a household can lead an active and healthy life.
Map the Meal Gap allows you to take an in-depth look at food insecurity across the country by providing county-by-county details.
