Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
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An estimated 17.6 million American households were food insecure in 2012, meaning they were unable to obtain enough food for an active and healthy life. Programs to augment local access to healthy foods are increasingly widespread, with unclear effects on food security. At the same time, the US government has recently enacted major cuts to federal food assistance programs. ⋯ In conclusion, better neighborhood food access is associated with lower risk of food insecurity. However, most food insecure individuals reported good access. Improving diet in communities with high rates of food insecurity likely requires not only improved access but also greater affordability.
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Recent evidence showed that community capacity building is one of the key methods to reach health improvements within disadvantaged communities. Physical activity and sports participation are important means to reach health improvements. This study investigates a capacity building method which aims at increasing sports participation in the community, especially for individuals at higher risk of sports deprivation. ⋯ Respondents at higher risk of sports deprivation also engaged in significantly more sports participation in program communities than those in control communities. This difference was also noted for groups that are not related with sports deprivation. These results are promising and plead for a community capacity building approach to increase sports participation in disadvantaged communities.
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The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between individual and neighborhood social contextual factors and smoking prevalence among African-American women in subsidized neighborhoods. We randomly sampled 663 adult women in 17 subsidized neighborhoods in two Southeastern US states. The smoking prevalence among participants was 37.6%, with an estimated neighborhood household prevalence ranging from 30 to 68%. ⋯ This study extends findings about smoking behaviors and neighborhood social contexts in this high-risk, urban population. Future research is needed to explore age and residential stability differences and perceptions of social cohesion, neighborhood disorder, and perceived violence in subsidized housing. Further research is also warranted on African-American women, subsidized housing, smoking, social context, health disparities' effective strategies to address these individual and contextual factors to better inform future ecological-based multilevel prevention, and cessation intervention strategies.
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African American male high school students have the highest rates of marijuana use among all racial, ethnic, and gender groups, yet there is limited research examining contextual factors salient to the African American community. The purpose of this study was to examine how neighborhood environment measured in 8th grade is related to longitudinal transitions in marijuana use during high school (9th to 12th grades) in a sample of urban African Americans. Four hundred and fifty-two African American children were interviewed annually beginning in 1st grade as part of a longitudinal field study in Baltimore city. ⋯ African American youth living in urban environments with exposure to drug activity, violence, and neighborhood disorder are at increased risk for both initiation and progression to more frequent and problematic marijuana use during high school. These findings highlight the need to develop interventions for African American youth that are mindful of the impact of the additional stressors of living in a high-risk urban environment during a critical developmental transition period. Reducing exposure to drug activity and violence in high-risk urban neighborhoods may be the first step to potentially halt increasing rates of marijuana use among African Americans.
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Food and nutrition security is critical for economic development due to the role of nutrition in healthy growth and human capital development. Slum residents, already grossly affected by chronic poverty, are highly vulnerable to different forms of shocks, including those arising from political instability. This study describes the food security situation among slum residents in Nairobi, with specific focus on vulnerability associated with the 2007/2008 postelection crisis in Kenya. ⋯ In conclusion, this study describes the deeply intertwined nature of chronic poverty and acute crisis, and the subsequent high levels of food insecurity in urban slum settings. Households are extremely vulnerable to food insecurity; the situation worsening during periods of crisis in the perception of slum residents, engendering frequent use of negative coping strategies. Effective response to addressing vulnerability to household food insecurity among the urban poor should focus on both the underlying vulnerabilities of households due to chronic poverty and added impacts of acute crises.