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Rights based approaches to addressing food poverty and food insecurity in Ireland and UK
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Dowler, Elizabeth and O'Connor, Deirdre (2012) Rights based approaches to addressing food poverty and food insecurity in Ireland and UK. Social Science & Medicine, Vol.74 (No.1). pp. 44-51. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.08.036 ISSN 1873-5347.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.08.036
Abstract
Food poverty is an important contributing factor to health inequalities in industrialized
countries; it refers to the inability to acquire or eat an adequate quality
or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways (or the uncertainty of being able to
do so). Synonymous with household food insecurity, the issue needs to be located within a
social justice framework. Recognising the clear interdependence between the right to food
and the right to health, this paper explores how international human rights obligations could
inform approaches to addressing food poverty and insecurity with specific reference to
Ireland and the UK. Little attention has been paid to how countries should meet their
obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to food in developed countries. The paper
contributes by examining the social and policy circumstances which inhibit poor households
from obtaining sufficient food to eat healthily, along with strategies and interventions from
State and civil society actors in the two countries. In practice, problems and potential
solutions have largely been directed towards the individual rather than at social determinants,
particularly as research on environmental factors such as distance to shops has produced
equivocal results. Other key structural aspects such as income sufficiency for food are
broadly ignored by the State, and anti-poverty strategies are often implemented without
monitoring for effects on food outcomes. Thus scant evidence exists for either Ireland or the
UK meeting its rights to food obligations to date, in terms of roles and responsibilities in
ensuring access to affordable, available and appropriate food for all.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare | ||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Food security -- Great Britain, Food security -- Ireland, Poverty -- Great Britain, Poverty -- Ireland | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Social Science & Medicine | ||||
Publisher: | Elsevier | ||||
ISSN: | 1873-5347 | ||||
Official Date: | January 2012 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Vol.74 | ||||
Number: | No.1 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 44-51 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.08.036 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 17 December 2015 | ||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 17 December 2015 |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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