By: Mathankki Ramasamy
Children can have the outstanding ability to build resilience when it comes to facing the challenges placed in front of them. However, even the most courageous and toughest child can start to weather and feel like there is no hope in hunger.
Food insecurity has been a crisis in Canadian households for many years with about one in eight Canadians experiencing food insecurity prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. That is approximately 4.4 million Canadians. Within this number, 1.2 million children age 18 and younger experience food insecurity due to the household they find themselves in. These often being ones led by a single mother and/or of low-income. When looking at Canada’s territories, a shocking third to a half of the children living here experience food insecurity – these regions being the largest spots of child hunger in the country
Now imagine what these numbers would have been like for children during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic exacerbated the already terrifying rates of food insecurity in Canadian households, especially among those of low-income. With not being able to go to work due to pandemic related circumstances, unemployment, and/or poverty, many households suffered financially. This impacted their ability to buy sufficient amounts of food for themselves. Households with children were the most impacted by such changes, with nearly one in five households with children experiencing food insecurity during the very early stages of the pandemic. Moreover with lockdowns and remote learning, children who were dependent on school-based food programs were initially left with very little options for food, until alternative methods to distribute food were found.
It's important to understand that pre-, midst-, and now the beginning stages of being post-pandemic, financial circumstances among these households continue to be a major cause for child hunger. Healthy foods and food in general have become costly to purchase over the years. Now with greater inflation, the price of groceries and the cost of living have hit unimaginable levels. Many fear food insecurity among Canadian children will continue to rise with such conditions.
So what are the impacts of food insecurity on children?
The impact it can have on children can be devastating to their development and growth. A lack of food can lead to poor health outcomes including nutritional deficiencies, lack of sleep, and poor mental and physical health.
Nutritional deficiencies caused by food insecurity can reduce children’s learning and productivity. This can not only impact their cognitive abilities, but also their socio-emotional capacities and mood. Further, food insecurity and hunger among children has been identified to be a predictor of poor mental health, with the likeliness of developing depression in the later stages of life being higher.
Child hunger can cause stress at early ages and lead to chronic illnesses, such as cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and asthma in the future. In contrary to what some may think, food insecurity among children has also been linked to childhood obesity due to poor eating patterns and food choices.
So what is being done to help with this issue now and what can we do to make a change?
Although the pandemic isn’t necessarily over, life has started to return to a new normal with children moving on from virtual to in-person schooling. With school-based food programs likely to be up and running normally again, food insecure children can continue to have access to healthy foods in a safe environment. To further encourage such programs, The Coalition for Healthy School Food is advocating for a universal cost-shared school food program across Canada that will provide food that is not only healthy, but also culturally appropriate. Such a motion is important to help fund programs in regions of Canada, such as rural and remote areas where school-based food programs are often lacking.
Additionally, it is important to consider the root causes for child food insecurity and the policies that address them. Food Banks of Canada is leading this effort through their policy recommendations targeting all levels of government. Seeing such efforts highlights the need for governmental support towards low-income families and those vulnerable to food insecurity. Such support includes the provision of better tax benefits, financial aid for housing and living costs, as well as childcare and education. These all being crucial towards reducing child food insecurity.
Next month is Hunger Action month, a time in which we must continue to create awareness and reflect on what we can do to help with food insecurity. We must be agents of change, lend our voices, and push for policy changes that can make a big difference towards child food insecurity.
Learn more about The Coalition for Healthy School Food here.
Learn more about Food Banks Canada’s policy and advocacy efforts here.
Mathankki Ramasamy is a recent graduate from University of Toronto and is an incoming Master of Public Health student at University of Ottawa. She has a passion for addressing health inequities among marginalized and vulnerable populations and is interested in health services research.