Food security
Food security exists when people reliably have physical and economic access to enough safe, nutritious food for an active, healthy life.
Food availability: The presence of sufficient food through domestic production, imports, or food assistance. Availability is one dimension of food security, but abundant supplies do not guarantee household access.
Food supply chain: The connected activities that move food from production through processing and distribution to consumption. Disruptions along these links can reduce the food reaching markets and households.
Food assistance: Public or private support that helps people obtain food during hardship. Transfers and direct aid can protect access when household resources fail.
Malnutrition: Deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in energy or nutrient intake and use. Prolonged food insecurity can produce undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.
Global Food Security Index: A composite index comparing countries’ food affordability, availability, quality, and resilience. It turns several dimensions of food security into a comparative country-level assessment.
Food access: People’s ability to obtain food through purchase, production, exchange, or assistance. Economic and physical access determines whether available food reaches people.
Food price volatility: Frequent or large changes in food prices over time. Price spikes can rapidly reduce the purchasing power of food-insecure households.
School meal: A meal provided to students at school, often through a public nutrition program. School meals improve children’s access to food and can support attendance and learning.
Stunting: Impaired growth in children, commonly assessed as low height for age. Chronic inadequate nutrition and illness can leave lasting effects on child growth.
IPC Acute Food Insecurity Classification: A framework for classifying the severity of acute food insecurity and identifying populations in need. It provides standardized phases for describing emergencies and guiding response.