Exploring the health challenges and inequalities of the new food aid system: a seminar discussion on working with and within foodbanks. (360G-Wellcome-107507_Z_15_Z)

Food poverty poses significant concerns for wellbeing, nutrition related conditions, and social justice (1). In wealthier countries, it is often under researched and under acknowledged, as it highlights persistent health and social inequalities. In the UK, charities are filling the void left by rising food prices and lowered incomes as increasing numbers of people seek out emergency food aid. Food poverty has the potential to exacerbate health inequalities and yet there is an absence of resear ch on the health and wellbeing outcomes and a lack of knowledge about the extent and scale of food poverty at the population level. We propose a meeting featuring presentations and insights from different actors working in and with the food aid system. A public health audience will be invited to join the debate with the overall aim of developing a research agenda around the emerging food aid system and the health problems, challenges and inequalities it entails. Specifically, this seminar will comprise talks from a food aid academic, a foodbank manager, and a London GP who regularly refers to foodbanks. This will be followed by the presentation of a newly devised food poverty prevalence measure and a panel discussion.