Partners in Health: Hunger and Health - Kate Walton

Healthy People 2020 calls for a focus on root causes of chronic disease by creating social and physical environments that promote good health for all. The Community Alliance for Research and Engagement at the Yale School of Public Health works to organize communities around health, identifying community-supported interventions to address the precursors and determinants of chronic disease, such as obesity. Diet is an important risk factors that can be changed. In a 2012 survey of 1,298 adults, four in ten residents reported "food insecurity" -- meaning that they or their family did not have enough food or money to buy food in the past 30 days. People who struggle to pay for groceries often can't afford healthier foods like fresh produce. CARE's SNAP outreach program seeks to understand and address this gap in food insecurity.