Improving Food Security Among Wollongong University Students

This presentation discusses the issue of food insecurity among Wollongong University students in Australia, and proposes strategies to decrease it. The aim is to increase accessibility to nutritious and fresh food and decrease the prevalence of food-associated chronic diseases. The presentation includes predisposing factors for food insecurity, strategies to achieve the plan, a realistic budget, risk assessment, and evaluation plan.

Food security among
the Wollongong
University students

Chosen community- Wollongong University students in Australia
Issue – Climatic change had posed a threat to the food security of the Wollongong
community. As per a survey carried out among the university students, a
substantial percentage of younger person in the Wollongong region are affected
by the food insecurity that is leading to chronic diseases such as diabetes and
obesity, cardiovascular diseases and ulcers (Mansour 2014). The continuous lack
of resources, funding and poor consumption of the nutritious food impacts on the
poor life style choices like smoking, drug and alcohol use (Weiler et al. 2013).

Aims & Objectives of the plan
• Aim: To decrease the food insecurity as reported by the
Wollongong university students.
• Objectives:
• To increase the accessibility to nutritious and fresh food.
• To decrease the prevalence of the food associated chronic
diseases.
• To provide education regarding food preferences and financial
resources.

Predisposing factors for the food
insecurity
• Lack of food availability (Keating 2013).
• Proper access due to the remote location
of the food outlets
• Financial condition and the high prices of
the healthy foods.
• Lack of nay national monitoring of the
healthy food prices.
• Different food patterns due to cultural
diversity among the students.
• Note: In Queensland, the healthy foods
access basket (HFAB) (Mansour 2014).

Strategies to achieve the plan
• Establishment of a high level working group with a student
representative , service providers and the university executive to focus
of the food security needs of the university students (Mansour 2014).
• Food aid programs would be set up in the university assisting the
students to make better food choices.
• The committee set up in the university should focus on the food
insecurity in the university students in relation to the income levels of
the students and the availability and the accessibility of good food
(Mansour 2014).

A realistic budget
Budget heading Total budget
Health needs assessment/ nutritional
assessment
15000 AUD
Educational support staffs training 1000 $
Arrangement of the stakeholders 1222 $
Collating the database 2000 $
Food aid program 50000$
Setting up of a Committee 2000$

A risk assessment of the plan
• The target group for the interventions like food aid
program, the gaps left in the program will be assessed by
a pilot program involving a small sample size.

Evaluation of the intervention
• After the completion of the food aid program and functioning of the
university for at least six months, the effectiveness of the strategies should
be measured.
• Feedbacks and the surveys can be used to measure the effectiveness of
the program
• Data of the number of people getting access to good food and those not
getting access to the good food should be tallied with the previous data to
measure any improvement.
• Nutritional assessment should be conducted to evaluate the nutritional
status of the sample size.

A timeline for implementation and evaluation

References
• Keating, A., 2013. Food security in Australia: the logistics of
vulnerability. In Food Security in Australia (pp. 21-34). Springer,
Boston, MA.
• Mansour, R., 2014. Food security among students at University of
Wollongong.
• Weiler, A.M., Hergesheimer, C., Brisbois, B., Wittman, H., Yassi,
A. and Spiegel, J.M., 2014. Food sovereignty, food security and
health equity: a meta-narrative mapping exercise. Health policy
and planning, 30(8), pp.1078-1092.