Children’s Vulnerability to Environmental Exposures: Food Security

Oct 14m 2010

Source: NIH

National Library of Medicine

National Center for Biotechnology Information

Photo Source: Unsplash

Livelihoods, food security, and human security

Poorer households have been observed to be more vulnerable to climate change–related events such as floods (Brouwer et al. 2007), and children, especially those in poverty, would be likely to be more affected by such events (UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre 2008). A disruption of livelihood can affect not only susceptibility to disease but also adaptive capacity (Hahn et al. 2009). A particularly difficult area to quantify is the potential effect of climate change on war or political instability resulting from mass migrations; local security changes from increased environmental or psychosocial stress; and social disruption due to extreme events and livelihood disruption (Barnett 2003; Sondorp and Patel 2003). One study shows an association of increased temperatures and armed conflict in Africa (Burke et al. 2009). Social disruption often has disproportionate impacts on girls, including increased health impacts and workloads and decreased educational access (UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre 2008).

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