Access to affordable, healthy foods is an important social determinant of health with a direct impact on the health and well-being of individuals and communities.
Poor nutrition increases the likelihood of chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, and it has consequences for mental health, including heightened stress, anxiety and depression.
APHA promotes access to affordable and quality nutrition for everyone to ensure better health across the lifespan.
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Tell your members in Congress to support nutrition priorities in upcoming reauthorizations.
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Our work
APHA advocates for the following legislative priorities:
- Protecting and strengthening access to food safety nets such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program via the passage of a long-term Farm Bill
- Adequate and sustained funding for the WIC program to increase access to healthy foods for women, infants and children
- Stronger dietary guidelines for Americans, including the protection of school nutrition standards to ensure that school meals are a healthy source of nutrition for American children
What is food security?
Food security means having consistent access to enough food to maintain an active, healthy life for all household members.
Food insecurity — limited or uncertain access to enough food — has been on the rise in the U.S. since the COVID-19 pandemic. Roughly 1 in 7 people and 1 in 5 children lived in food insecure households in 2022. This is the highest rate of food insecurity in nearly a decade.
People of color are systematically more likely to face hunger than white Americans. In 2022, 1 in 5 Black and Latino Americans — including 1 in 3 Black and Latino children — lived in food insecure households.
What is food justice and why is it important to public health?
APHA advocates for food justice, which is a movement acknowledging the social inequalities and systemic barriers to food access faced by communities. Low-income consumers, Black and Latino Americans, Native and indigenous Americans, households with children and rural communities face disproportionately high rates of food insecurity.
Read more in APHA's food justice fact sheet.
Contact Us
For any questions, contact Tia Taylor Williams, director of APHA's Center for Public Health Policy.
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