Research Profile – Not Just Hungry

Feeding the world's poor means tackling poverty and other barriers.

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Poverty leads to hunger. This may seem like an obvious statement, but existing efforts to reduce global hunger do not address the larger issues behind food insecurity.

"Simply providing food doesn't get at the root of the causes of hunger," says Dr. Lynn McIntyre, professor of community health sciences at the University of Calgary.

Efforts to address hunger should use a 'whole person development' approach as a way to help the poorest of the poor, or "ultra-poor." According to Dr. McIntyre, women in particular could benefit from this approach since they carry the burden of hunger in their families.

While there are various assistance programs, such as microcredit programs to help people launch small businesses and improve their income, these come at too high a price for the very poor. Basic education is often inaccessible to them. As long as their education and literacy levels are low, the ultra-poor have even less of a chance of breaking out of extreme poverty.

How can we begin to tackle such a complex problem? Dr. McIntyre and her team interviewed some of the world's poorest women to better understand the specific barriers that they face to getting sufficient food for themselves and their families.

Her most recent work entailed in-depth qualitative interviews with 43 ultra-poor women in Bangladesh. Each woman was the main earner for her family and came from one of five specific low-paying trades: garment workers, petty traders (one urban and one rural group), subsistence agriculture workers and manual labourers. They each earned less than $1.00 US a day. They had an average of two to four children, and about 75% lived alone with their children (28 were either widowed or abandoned by their husbands).

"This population is totally food insecure," says Dr. McIntyre. Accounts from the women showed that trying to get food for their families was a constant preoccupation. Many women routinely skipped meals or consumed very little to ensure their children got food. They had knowledge of healthy diets but had very limited access to foods from the different food groups.

A total of 19 of the women were unable to send their children to school due to inadequate income. The costs of application fees, school uniforms, books and other supplies were beyond what they could pay.

None of the women were able to earn sufficient income for their household's needs. There was also lack of access to things such as health care. In some cases, health clinics were only open during the same hours that the women had to work – and they couldn't afford to take time off or they would lose wages.

Dr. McIntyre's team also asked the women about small, doable things that could help their situation. For instance, eliminating the need for school uniforms would make it possible for some to send their children to school. Education improves children's chances of getting better jobs as adults and could reduce future food insecurity for them.

Dr. McIntyre's findings demonstrate that these women "are insecure in every sphere of their life."

But by identifying specific ways to break the cycle of poverty, such as removing barriers to education, we may ultimately be able to develop effective programs to increase food security for families around the world.

"Simply providing food doesn't get at the root of the causes of hunger."
– Dr. Lynn McIntyre, University of Calgary