On the occasion of World Hunger Day, Médecins du Monde is publishing a survey conducted in France revealing the difficulties of access to food for vulnerable people, and the impact on their health.
“Hunger justifies means! This is the name of the last survey carried out by Médecins du Monde (MdM) between April and May 2014 in seven of its health centers (Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis and Strasbourg) among 346 patients, 97% of whom are migrants. It describes their food both in quantity and quality, their sources of supply and their state of health. And the results are not the most encouraging.
Food budgets of 2 to 3.5 € per day
In fact, in this survey, one in two respondents declared that they did not have enough to eat, often or sometimes. In addition, more than three quarters (78%) of the people questioned are in a situation of food insecurity for financial reasons. This proportion is 6 times higher than the French national average. She stays very strongly associated with administrative status and housing conditions precarious, specifies the MdM press release.
On the wallet side, two-thirds of those questioned declared spending less than € 3.5 per day on food, a threshold below which the health risks are obvious. Worse yet, chis sum is reduced to less than 2 € for people on the street, in squats or shanty towns.
But also days without frequent meals
The food is insufficient in quantity and quality. The days without meals are indeed very frequent: over 50% of adults, and 20% of children have not eaten for at least an entire day in the past month (for almost a quarter this has been the case several times a week). In addition, these people are often isolated since almost half of them (48%) do not know of the existence of food aid structures. And 33% of those questioned declared that they did not have access to a water network.
Malnutrition: multiple health consequences
Unfortunately, the health consequences of this food insecurity are multiple. At first, it manifests itself by a weight loss (especially for newcomers). Secondly, due to an inadequate diet, on the other hand, overweight problems appear, see obesity (33.7% of adults) and chronic pathologies (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc.).
Finally, more than 3 out of 10 people present on the day of the survey a chronic or acute pathology possibly related to a poor diet. This poor state of health obviously deteriorates with the precarious housing conditions and the length of stay in the territory.
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