5 ways to alleviate food insecurity in displaced populations

By 2023, 117 million people, primarily women and children, were displaced across the globe, fleeing violence and climate disasters. Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, hosts a significant number of refugees and has witnessed a rise in the frequency and intensity of climate disasters.

As conflicts rage and climate disasters persist, food insecurity is becoming widespread — and significantly impacts the millions of displaced people.

The inability to access enough food and nutrition has devastating consequences, particularly for the most vulnerable. An estimated 6 million children under five years old experienced acute malnutrition due to food insecurity in the Horn of Africa. Furthermore, food insecurity has been linked to increased infant mortality, stunting, reduced life expectancy and poor physical and mental health.

The region, which includes substantial parts of Ethiopia, northern Kenya and Somalia, also recently experienced its worst drought in 40 years, resulting in 43,000 deaths in Somalia alone in 2022. Extreme weather conditions have also resulted in the loss of livestock in pastoralist communities and destroyed crops, leading to food insecurity for more than 25 million people. In parallel, the region continues to experience protracted conflicts, particularly in Ethiopia and Somalia.

Against this worrying backdrop, more can and must be done. Here are five solutions to strengthen the food system in displaced populations to sustainably improve livelihoods and health outcomes — the goal, ultimately, is to build resilient and prosperous refugee and host communities by 2030.

Health interventions can be a neutral driver for strengthening the food system by increasing and streamlining the entry of nutritious food products directly into the health system, into hospitals, and onto patients' plates.

Access to fruits, vegetables and other nutritious food products would significantly improve health outcomes by reducing undernutrition, malnutrition, anaemia and prolonged disease courses due to communicable diseases such as pneumonia, malaria and measles. In addition, with proper nutrition, surgical patients would have better outcomes due to better wound healing and reduced likelihood of infections.

In the Kakuma refugee camp, Surgical Systems Research Group, Apeel and Gastomotiva are working to optimize the availability of nutritious food products for vulnerable refugee and Turkana children needing surgical care. The intervention will not only make nutritious food more available for children in need of surgical care, but it will also seek to jointly create menus and recipes that would be most appealing for pediatric patients. In addition, the intervention will enable hospital cooking staff to develop new menu items that are more suitable for children needing surgical care.

Sustainably financing and building a resilient business model around the local production of nutritious food products in refugee settings strengthens the food system, improving health outcomes and livelihoods.

Turkana county is located in the northwestern part of Kenya. Climate conditions are harsh, there is very little rainfall and agricultural opportunities are scarce. Most fresh fruits and vegetables are imported into the county from other parts of Kenya.

Despite harsh environmental conditions, there are inspiring agricultural initiatives in the Kakuma refugee camp today. The Choro farm, a 20-acre farm, was established to reduce food insecurity and improve livelihoods for refugee and host communities in Kakuma, demonstrating the resilience and resourcefulness of the camp’s residents. In a second rapidly growing social enterprise, refugees from Congo recently demonstrated the feasibility of beekeeping as a means of producing honey. Three months after its launch, the Kakuma Beekeeping Social Enterprise produces enough honey for local and external markets. External markets are a potential avenue for bringing new funding streams into the camp.

In an era of inadequate funding in the humanitarian sector and significantly reduced food rations, providing sustainable financing mechanisms for entrepreneurs in the food system is critical to scaling up successful locally tailored agricultural solutions to significantly reduce food insecurity in refugee settings. Moreover, strengthening such initiatives would improve livelihoods, and with streamlined linkages to the health system, they would also improve health outcomes.

Once food is produced, efforts should be made to minimize food waste by implementing novel solutions that prolong the life of food and by finding uses for food components that are typically discarded.

Electricity and other energy sources are scarce in refugee contexts, including the Kakuma refugee camp. As a result, the capacity to refrigerate food to increase its shelf life is minimal. Solutions are emerging to increase the shelf life of food products naturally. In Kakuma and Turkana, Surgical Systems Research Group, Apeel, and Gastomotiva will work with key stakeholders, including community health workers, to co-design naturally available products to enhance and prolong the nutritional value of food products, ultimately reducing food waste and food insecurity.

In the increased frequency and intensity of climate disasters, it is essential to work with local stakeholders to ensure inputs for strengthening the food system and leverage renewable energy solutions to optimize the sustainability and resilience of local food production in refugee contexts.

Prioritizing and promoting solutions that include women, refugees, and host communities presents an opportunity for success. Solutions need to emphasize involving them as co-designers and co-implementers in key projects addressing health, nutrition, and livelihoods. They should have a voice in local and regional processes and policies to foster the sustainability of interventions over time and facilitate formalizing local organizations and social enterprises.

Proposed solutions in this area leverage partnerships between international organizations, businesses, social entrepreneurs, and groups, such as the World Economic Forum’s network of Young Global Leaders.

Food insecurity is inseparable from displaced populations fleeing protracted conflicts and worsening climate disasters that are leading to devastatingly poor health outcomes. Sustainably strengthening the food system through a business model for local food production with streamlined linkages to the health system would drive better livelihoods and better health outcomes. It would protect and alleviate the suffering of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.