Food insecurity in western and far west NSW
RESULTS were announced this week from a 2014 survey conducted by Charles Sturt University, phn Western NSW and Western NSW Local Health District (LHD) about food access and affordability in the region.
A $66,000 grant from the NSW Ministry of Health and donations from 22 organisations assisted in the data collection.
The survey set out to find out how easy it was to buy healthy food and a basic healthy diet from May to July 2014.
One hundred and eighty-three grocery stores and 19 fruit and vegetable stores were surveyed in the Murrumbidgee, Western NSW, Far West Local Health Districts (LHD) and the New England portion of Hunter New England LHD.
Moree-based North West Nutrition accredited practising dietitian and co-lead investigator/researcher on the survey Pollyemma Antees told Dubbo Weekender the survey provides the evidence for what health practitioners have long believed is happening in the region but needed quantifiable proof that many people cannot afford enough healthy food in order to support a healthy diet.
”People living on Centrelink income support payments cannot afford what the Australian Dietary Guidelines tell us is a regular healthy intake of foods,” she said.
Many stores asked to participate responded well to the survey.
“We had a high survey rate because the grocery stores want to know. They want healthier communities too,” said Antees.
Only 37 percent of stores however had all 44 items which appear on the benchmark Victorian Healthy Food Basket, lower than the average across Western NSW of 43 percent.
Out of 54 possible fruit varieties selling in Australia, an average of just 27.4 were available in the region surveyed. Of the possible 93 vegetables selling in Australia, on average only 48.6 are available in the region surveyed.
The survey found a healthy diet for a family of four on Centrelink assistance payments is likely to cost more in stores which are further from Sydney and in communities with higher Aboriginal populations.
Families of four would need to spend up to 42.8 per cent of their fortnightly Centrelink income support payment to buy sufficient healthy foods. Single parent families would need to spend 38.3 per cent, single males around 29.4 percent and a single female pensioner who on average receives $113.59 a fortnight, would need between $98 and $142 to buy two weeks of healthy foods (pictured).
“Quite often you’ll find low income families will choose high energy, low nutrition foods. While the children may be thin what is happening inside their bodies can be iron deficiencies, fatigue, ear infections, Type 2 diabetes,” said Antees.
Western NSW LHD Aboriginal Health Practitioner and Marang Dhali (eating well) facilitator Craig Johnson said: “I work at the Diabetes Unit and see the effects of sugary foods and drinks which overload the pancreas, or overworks it and it shuts down causing Type 2 diabetes.”
On the issue of a proposed sugar tax Antees, Johnson and Australian Red Cross Greater Western Region food security project officer Gabriella Barrett agreed a small tax will have no impact.
“Cigarettes have something like a 40 percent tax but it has not stopped people from smoking. The same with a small tax on sugary drinks, will have very little impact on people’s habits. People do want to eat healthy. A tax won’t solve the issue if people aren’t educated to know how to eat healthy on a budget,” Antees said.
The survey results support local initiatives to continue to tackle food insecurity and help get healthy food on tables.
Johnson runs a six week program through the Marang Dhali program which includes training on healthy eating, doing supermarket tours to learn how to read and understand nutrition guides on food packaging, make budget-conscious choices, participate in cooking demonstrations and getting a dietitian to assess their diet.
“People aren’t being taught basic home economics anymore. At school what we learned as home economics leans more now toward learning the catering business but not enough is about basic life skills anymore,” said Antees.
“The Red Cross runs a many programs including Foodredi which teaches people how to buy healthier food on a budget following the Australian health guidelines,” said Barrett.
In 2014, 6.6 percent of the Far West and 9.9 percent from the Western NSW LHD said they suffered food insecurity in the previous 12 months and there were times when they ran out of food and could not afford to buy more.
“Sometimes I think a dietitian also needs to be a gardener,” said Antees whose own program in Moree ‘Happy Healthy Strong’ encourages participants to grow their own vegetables.
“Deloitte did a study on the costs of not eating the recommended five serves a day of vegetables. They showed if everyone spent just 10 cents more on veges per week, the health savings to the government would be $96 million dollars,” she said.
“It really is very simple to be healthy. Eat your veges,” Antees said.
The Food Access and Affordability in Western NSW LHD 2014 survey results for the western region can be found at http://www.csu.edu.au/research/ilws/ research/summaries/2016/food-access