The Sax Institute, Sydney, Australia.
Children's Hospital Westmead Clinical School, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2022 May 28;22(1):1066. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13202-z.
It is widely acknowledged that the invasion by colonial powers of the Australian continent had profound and detrimental impacts on Aboriginal Communities, including food security. Policies of successive governments since European arrival have since further exacerbated the situation, with food insecurity now affecting 20-25% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Food insecurity contributes to long-term impacts on health, in particular diet-sensitive chronic diseases. This study aimed to describe Aboriginal community and stakeholder perspectives on food insecurity to get a better understanding of the key contributing factors and recommendations for potential strategies to address this issue in Aboriginal communities in urban and regional Australia.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 44 participants who were purposively selected. This included Aboriginal people in two communities and both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal stakeholders from local food relief agencies, food suppliers, schools, and government in an urban and regional location in NSW. A conceptual framework was developed from literature on food security, and sensitizing concepts of availability, affordability, accessibility and acceptability or the lack thereof of healthy food were used to elicit responses from the participants. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically.
All participants felt strongly that food insecurity was a major problem experienced in their local Aboriginal communities. Five core areas impacting on food security were identified: trapped in financial disadvantage; gaps in the local food system; limitations of non-Aboriginal food relief services; on-going impacts of colonization; and maintaining family, cultural and community commitments and responsibilities. Participants suggested a number of actions that could help ease food insecurity and emphasized that Aboriginal values and culture must be strongly embedded in potential programs.
This study found Aboriginal families in urban and regional Australia are experiencing food insecurity on a regular basis, which is impacted by a range of socio-economic, environmental, systemic and cultural factors, as reported by the participants. Study findings highlight the need to address system level changes in the food environment and acknowledge Aboriginal history, culture and food preferences when considering the development of programs to alleviate food insecurity among Aboriginal people.
殖民势力对澳大利亚大陆的入侵对原住民社区造成了深远而不利的影响，包括食品安全。自欧洲人到来以来，历届政府的政策使情况进一步恶化，现在有 20-25%的原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民面临粮食不安全问题。粮食不安全对健康造成长期影响，特别是与饮食有关的慢性疾病。本研究旨在描述原住民社区和利益攸关方对粮食不安全问题的看法，以更好地了解造成这一问题的主要因素，并为澳大利亚城市和地区的原住民社区提出解决这一问题的潜在策略建议。
采用半结构式访谈，对来自新南威尔士州一个城市和地区的两个原住民社区以及当地食品救济机构、食品供应商、学校和政府的原住民和非原住民利益攸关方的 44 名参与者进行了有针对性的选择。从粮食安全文献中提取了一个概念框架，并利用可用性、可负担性、可及性和可接受性或缺乏健康食品的概念来启发参与者的回应。对访谈记录进行了主题分析。
所有参与者都强烈认为，粮食不安全是他们当地原住民社区面临的一个主要问题。确定了影响粮食安全的五个核心领域：陷入财务劣势；当地粮食系统存在差距；非原住民食品救济服务的局限性；殖民化的持续影响；以及维持家庭、文化和社区的承诺和责任。参与者提出了一些有助于缓解粮食不安全的行动，并强调在考虑缓解原住民粮食不安全的方案时，必须大力融入原住民价值观和文化。
本研究发现，澳大利亚城市和地区的原住民家庭经常面临粮食不安全问题，正如参与者所报告的那样，这受到一系列社会经济、环境、系统和文化因素的影响。研究结果强调，需要解决粮食环境中的系统层面变化，并在考虑缓解原住民粮食不安全的方案时，承认原住民的历史、文化和食物偏好。
