Hunger and Food Insecurity in Pennsylvania | Advocacy List |
Household Food Security in the United States, 2007
United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (November 2008).
- Hunger (officially known as very low food security) and food insecurity have increased in Pennsylvania.
- very low food security affected 3.4% of Pennsylvania households; up from 2.9% in the prior year and the highest level of hunger in Pennsylvania since the collection of this data was begun in 1995.
- 10% of Pennsylvania households were food insecure--lacking access to sufficient food to meet their nutritional needs.
Child Food Insecurity in the United States: 2005-2007
Dr. John Cook, Boston University School of Medicine (May 2009).
- 15.8% of Pennsylvania’s children were food insecure
- On average, 439,153 of Pennsylvania’s children, including 119,976 under the age of 5 were food insecure during the years 2005-2007
The Economic Cost of Domestic Hunger: Estimated Annual Burden to the United States
Dr. J Larry Brown, Harvard School of Public Health, et.al. (June 2007)
- Hunger and food insecurity costs Pennsylvania $3,245,360,000 per year; representing the state’s share of the $90.4 billion cost to the nation as a whole.
- This nearly $3.25 billion cost burden in Pennsylvania includes almost $2.4 billion for medical and mental health care due to increases in illness and psychosocial dysfunction; $330 million from reduced educational achievement and lowered worker productivity, and $517 million in expenses for charitable activities, all directly associated with hunger and food insecurity.
- Hungry and food insecure people are: 1.3 times more likely to be hospitalized and require longer in-patient stays, and 1.93 times more likely to need mental health services.
- Education-related impacts: food insecure children are more likely to require special education (2.07 times); miss days of school (1.6 times); repeat a grade (1.44 times), and nearly twice as likely to be suspended from school.
- Health-related impacts: food-deprived people are more likely to suffer from activity limiting health impairments (2.95 times); poorer overall health status (2.9 times); depression (3.5 times); psychosocial dysfunction (7 times).
- The study concluded that “In their adult years, children so affected will face greater likelihood of limited employability, lessened workforce productivity, and poorer judgment and job performance.”
Food Stamps as Medicine: A New Perspective on Children’s Health
Children’s Sentinel Nutrition Assessment Program (February 2007)
“By reducing food insecurity, food stamps can decrease a child’s risk of:
- Hospitalization
- Poor health
- Iron deficiency anemia
- Deficits in cognitive development
- Behavioral and emotional problems
The Causes, Consequences, and Future of Senior Hunger in America
Dr.JamesP.Ziliak., University of Kentucky et. al. (2007)
“After controlling for other risk factors for poor health we find that seniors experiencing some form of food insecurity are:
- Significantly more likely to have lower intakes of energy and major vitamins. This holds across all the nutrient intake measures considered. The effects are very strong. Across all the measures, the effect of being marginally food insecure is over twice as large (and generally much larger) than a move in income from one-to-two times the poverty line.
- Significantly more likely to be in poor or fair health. In comparisons of excellent or very good health versus good, fair, or poor health and comparisons of excellent, very good, or good health versus fair or poor health, we find a strong effect of marginal food insecurity. Being marginally food insecure is similar to not having graduated from high school.
- More likely to have limitations in activities of daily living (ADL). Marginally food insecure are much more likely than fully food secure seniors to have ADL limitations. The effects are again strong – being marginally food insecure is roughly equivalent to being 14 years older.”
