Food insecurity is a prevalent issue in the US. One research estimates that more than one adult in ten faced food shortages during the initial months of the coronavirus pandemic. The situation becomes even more grave when children become victims of food insecurity. To address this problem, Anthem Foundation has joined hands with Food Research & Action Center (FRAC).
According to the partnership, Anthem Foundation will fund the FRAC revisions in its online toolkit that was published first in 2017 and available online free of cost. The collaboration will also assist the pediatricians in the country to identify food insecurity and address this issue in families and patients suffering from it.
To make changes in the toolkit, a comprehensive survey was conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics and FRAC. The survey results indicated that pediatricians could play an important role in addressing this issue by connecting the suffering families to the nutrition program of the federal government. It was also reported that most pediatricians were not prepared to collaborate on the nutrition program, with the majority contending that they didn’t know whether the particular family followed through the nutrition program.
Moreover, as part of the survey, all the pediatricians in the list either agreed or strongly agreed that food insecurity is one of the primary reasons behind the children’s poor health. Besides, 96% of respondents agree that a person must be screened in a clinical setting for an accurate result on food insecurity.
It’s quite a tough task to identify whether a person is suffering from food insecurity, and the toolkit prepared by FRAC can help pediatricians address it properly. Anthem Foundation and FRAC’s association is expected to alleviate the gravity of the issue by playing a crucial role in raising awareness and providing training to key stakeholders.