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Public Health & Epidemiology vocabulary · Social Determinants and Equity

Food insecurity

Meaning in public health & epidemiology, with examples

nounCommon term

In public health & epidemiology, food insecurity means: Lack of reliable access to enough affordable, safe and nutritious food for an active and healthy life, often because of low income.

In Turkish: gıda güvencesizliği

How it is used

Measured with household surveys and graded as mild, moderate or severe. Food insecurity is linked to both undernutrition and obesity. Do not confuse it with food safety, which is about contamination.

Example sentences

  1. One in five households in the survey reported food insecurity.

  2. Rising prices pushed many families into severe food insecurity.

Common collocations

  • household food insecurity
  • severe food insecurity
  • food security
  • food bank
  • social determinants of healthThe conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, such as income, education, housing and employment, which strongly shape their health.
  • socioeconomic statusA person's or group's position in society based on a combination of income, education and occupation, often used to compare health between social groups.
  • vulnerable groupsGroups of people who face a higher risk of poor health or have more difficulty getting care, for example because of age, poverty, disability, migration status or homelessness.
  • health inequalitiesDifferences in health, such as life expectancy or disease rates, between groups of people defined by income, area, ethnicity, gender or other social factors.

More terms: Social Determinants and Equity

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