Improving Public Health Through Community Food Projects - Essay Sample

Introduction

Public health has experienced various crises resulting from inadequate nutrition. The concept of food deserts may result from limited access to supermarkets providing various foods due to poverty and other factors in this paper. Notably, the poor diet has resulted in increased cases of obesity and chronic-related diseases such as diabetes. Experts suggest that community food projects should develop proper food systems in areas experiencing food deserts to enhance adequate nutrition. Therefore, this paper seeks to discuss the concept of inadequate nutrition and food desert as major crises affecting public health.

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Limited Access

Most rural communities experience limited access to supermarkets, offering various foods since they are mostly located in towns. Notably, this factor has led to a food desert situation, leading the locals to buy less variety of foods from the nearby groceries (Widener & Shannon, 2014). Besides, this leads to low diet that results in obesity and other chronic diseases (Chen, 2018). Healthcare centers in America have recorded increased excess weight cases within the past two years, which is a disaster for the government in terms of increasing financial support to the healthcare sector.

Poverty

Consequently, another primary course to the food desert is poverty among some communities. Notably, families with low income have trouble affording various foods from supermarkets (Widener & Shannon, 2014). Besides, some families may lack transportation fees required to reach the supermarkets located in cities. As a result, such families afford inappropriate diets from the local groceries leading to a rise in diabetes and other diet-related diseases.

Subsequently, most urban centers experience low access to fruits and vegetables due to low supply. These foods are essential in developing body immunity since they contain vitamin c. notably, inadequate vitamin c in the body leads to high chances of attack by various diseases (Chen, 2018). Besides, the body may also gain ideal weight due to an inappropriate diet.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the paper discussed inadequate nutrition and food desert as significant disasters in public health. Consequently, these crises may arise due to poverty or the geographical location of an individual. Notably, adequate nutrition is a significant aspect of health factors, and it should be addressed to the latter. Therefore, this paper recommends that every individual consider proper nutrition to sustain good health.

References

Chen, Y. (2018). To the future of aging society: "Public health and nutrition." Journal Of Public Health And Nutrition, 01(01), 35.
https://doi.org/10.35841/public-health-nutrition.1.1.3-4

Widener, M., & Shannon, J. (2014). When are food deserts? Integrating time into research on food accessibility. Health & Place, 30, 3.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.07.011.