How COVID-19 has exposed inequalities in the UK food system: The case of UK food and poverty
How COVID-19 has exposed inequalities in the UK food system: The case of UK food and poverty
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DOI：
10.35241/emeraldopenres.13539.2
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发表时间：
2020-05-13
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Pickett K
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Power M;Doherty B;Pybus K;Pickett K
本文借鉴了我们作为在粮食不安全、粮食系统和不平等领域工作的学术从业者的观点，在大流行和相关封锁的早期阶段，就COVID-19对英国获得粮食的社会经济不平等的经验和伦理影响发表评论。COVID-19大流行加剧了英国大部分人口的严重不安全感，这种不安全感本身就是十年“紧缩”政策的产物。失业率上升、工作时间减少以及多个弱势群体被迫自我隔离，可能会导致英国粮食不安全状况加剧，加剧与饮食相关的健康不平等。与这一流行病相关的社会和经济危机暴露了粮食慈善制度的脆弱性，而粮食慈善制度目前是应对日益严重的贫穷的一个关键措施。一个脆弱的粮食系统，与及时供应链，已受到挑战的库存。由此产生的粮食银行的粮食供应问题，加上需求迅速增加和志愿者人数减少，破坏了许多粮食慈善机构，特别是独立的粮食银行。根据这一分析，我们提出了一系列建议。我们呼吁立即结束对低收入家庭普遍信贷和现金赠款的五周等待。我们要求中央和地方政府认识到，许多粮食援助提供者已经有能力，无法承担额外的责任。政府对新冠肺炎相关经济危机的重大反应强调了一个关键原则：保护人口健康、保障家庭收入和保障经济是政府的责任。在大流行之前，数百万家庭处于贫困状态，除非政府继续通过政策变化保护家庭收入，否则还会有数百万家庭陷入贫困。
This article draws upon our perspective as academic-practitioners working in the fields of food insecurity, food systems, and inequality to comment, in the early stages of the pandemic and associated lockdown, on the empirical and ethical implications of COVID-19 for socio-economic inequalities in access to food in the UK. The COVID-19 pandemic has sharpened the profound insecurity of large segments of the UK population, an insecurity itself the product of a decade of ‘austerity’ policies. Increased unemployment, reduced hours, and enforced self-isolation for multiple vulnerable groups is likely to lead to an increase in UK food insecurity, exacerbating diet-related health inequalities. The social and economic crisis associated with the pandemic has exposed the fragility of the system of food charity which, at present, is a key response to growing poverty. A vulnerable food system, with just-in-time supply chains, has been challenged by stockpiling. Resultant food supply issues at food banks, alongside rapidly increasing demand and reduced volunteer numbers, has undermined many food charities, especially independent food banks. In the light of this analysis, we make a series of recommendations. We call for an immediate end to the five week wait for Universal Credit and cash grants for low income households. We ask central and local government to recognise that many food aid providers are already at capacity and unable to adopt additional responsibilities. The government’s - significant - response to the economic crisis associated with COVID-19 has underscored a key principle: it is the government’s responsibility to protect population health, to guarantee household incomes, and to safeguard the economy. Millions of households were in poverty before the pandemic, and millions more will be so unless the government continues to protect household incomes through policy change.