Nutrition and Food Insecurity

Food security has different dimensions: food availability (enough food of appropriate quality), food access (access by individuals to adequate resources for acquiring appropriate foods for a nutritious diet), food utilisation (through adequate diet, clean water, sanitation and health care to reach a state of nutritional well-being where all physiological needs are met) and food stability (access to adequate food at all times). Chronic and acute hunger is on the rise due to various factors, including civil conflicts, socio-economic conditions, natural hazards, climate change, and pests. From a health perspective, people affected by food insecurity are more prone to experience infectious diseases, chronic conditions such as heart diseases and hypertension, or mental illness.

Earth Observation (EO) strengthens food security and public health resilience by providing insights into crop, water, and population systems. EO-driven crop production forecasts, integrated with geospatial analysis, improve prediction of food crises by pinpointing areas at elevated risk of shortages, enabling pre-emptive food assistance and nutrition interventions that reduce malnutrition and health burdens. It also enables assessment of population and agricultural vulnerability to climate change through derived indicators, high-resolution population and land‑use dynamics, and surveillance of climate-sensitive disease patterns (dengue, malaria), providing policymakers, health authorities, and practitioners with tools that help address food insecurity and mitigate impacts on public health.