The relationship between food security and selected health related indicators

Several measures of food insecurity, whether at the household or at the national level, have been introduced during the past two or three decades. Some concentrate on the determinants of food security while other emphasize more the consequences of food insecurity. This study will discuss the status of food security in relation with health related variables The study will consist of two parts. The first part will be a systematic review which will gather articles related to food security and health status, health risks, health resources and healthcare using different search portals like PubMed, Web of Science, Ebscohost and Scopus. After a proper literature review, only articles that are related to this study will be chosen for this systemic review purpose. The second part of the study will look at the relationship between food security and health status, health risks, health resources and healthcare use of OECD and partner countries. The food security scores of the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) open to public and introduced by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) will be used as a dependable variable and the independent variables will be taken from the OECD health database which will be health status (life expectation at birth, life expectation at 65, infant mortality rates, potential years of life lost, deaths from cancer, suicide rates), health risks (Daily smokers, alcohol consumption, overweight or obese population, lack of social support), health resources (health spending, pharmacetical spending, doctors per 1000 population, nurses per 1000 population, health expenditures), healthcare use (doctors consultations, CT exams, MR exams, Ceserean, Infant vaccination rates, lenght of hospital stay, hospital dischagre, healthcare utilization), and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and Gross National Income. The results of this study can have a significant impact on the decisions of the authorities in choosing an effective approach to food security and will also be a new idea for future research. The outcomes showed that the strongest connection and positive effect of food security on 3 health response variables of life expectancy at birth, GDP and GNI. Also, the increase in food security causes a relatively strong decrease in variables pharmaceutical spending and infant mortality rates. GDP and GNI per capita have a direct positive correlation with food security in OECD and partner countries. Food support for low-income and homeless people, food subsidies and food tax reductions could help reduce food security and health care costs. The results of this study can have a significant impact on the decisions of the authorities in choosing an effective approach to food security and will also be an introduction for future research.