Millions of poor people around the world find that they cannot play a full part in society
because of language barriers, illiteracy, or lack of confidence. This in turn means that
they are excluded from taking part in the decision-making processes which affect their
lives. In the UK too, this is often the reality for poor people.food poverty
Food poverty means having too little money and other
facilities to be able to eat healthy food. This has come about in the UK because
traditional local shops are rapidly going out of business as large supermarket chains are
being built on the outskirts of towns and cities. This means that people often have to
travel some distance to buy their food. Poor people who cannot afford their own transport
have to pay for public transport, which may be infrequent or unavailable. In a country
where few own land where they can grow their own food, this situation makes life very
difficult for poor people.
Sustain (a national development organisation) is working
with Oxfam
GB to help people to develop
local schemes, such as a network of community cafés, food co-operatives, cooking clubs
and voucher schemes to enable people in poor communities to have a healthy diet. Sustain
and Oxfam also work with government departments to create policies which tackle food
poverty.
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