Global Health & Food Security

The “butterfly effect”

The “butterfly effect”

When something small or insignificant can create a large impact if it happens to tip the balance of other finely tuned systems, causing other changes that create a major (often disastrous) event.

MDGs

Millennium Development Goals: the eight international development goals to be achieved by 2015 addressing poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, communicable disease, education, gender inequality, environmental damage and the global partnership.

infectious disease

A disease that is caused by a pathogen and that can be spread from one individual to another. (HIV/AIDS)

non-infectious disease

a disease that cannot spread from one person to another (Cancer)

WHO

World Health Organization

food security

People's ability to access sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.

Undernutrition

The condition in which not enough calories are ingested to maintain health

Overnutrition

Too much food energy or excess nutrients to the degree of causing disease or increasing risk of disease; a form of malnutrition

Tuberculosis

An infectious disease that may affect almost all tissues of the body, especially the lungs

Ebola

A contagious viral disease originating in Africa. It is transmitted by blood and body fluids and causes body organs and vessels to leak blood, usually resulting in death.

Smallpox

The overall deadliest known disease in the history of the world. In the 20th century alone there were approximately 500,000,000 people who died of this disease.

Polio

A highly contagious infectious disease of the spinal cord caused by a filterable virus.

HIV/AIDS

Virus that destroys the immune system that should protect the body from diseases. The disease is passed from person to person through sexual acts, blood transfusions, used hypodermic needles, or from mother to child during birth.

Malaria

A disease caused by mosquitoes implanting parasites in the blood.

Cholera

an acute intestinal infection caused by ingestion of contaminated water or food

mental illness

The general category of differing disorders that affects a person's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

holistic approach

Within traditional medicine, a manner of understanding health such that it encompasses all aspects - physical, mental, social, and spiritual - of a person's life.

person-centered perspective on mental illness

describing people first rather than disease first (Jerry is a person who has schizophrenia” as opposed to “He’s schizophrenic”)

ideology of abundance

Walter Brueggemann's phrase to describe the loving generosity of God that "there is enough to go around-as long as each of us only takes what we need."

ideology of scarcity

Walter Brueggemann's phrase to describe those who believe "there is not enough, so hoard what you have."

Anthropogenic

Human-induced changes on the natural environment

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization)

A United Nations agency that works on international efforts to defeat hunger by helping developing countries modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices.

Global Farm Size

Only 1% of all global farms are over 30 acres but of those 1% they control 65% of all global farm production.

wheat, rice, corn

The main grain crops for the world; provides more than half of all the calories of the people on the planet.

monoculture plantation

an agricultural plantation specializing in the large-scale production of a single crop to be sold on the market

continuous cropping

Not allowing the soil to remain fallow during any part of the year. Use a cover crop or green manure crop during times that you might ordinarily leave fallow

cover crops

Plants, such as rye, alfalfa, or clover, that can be planted immediately after harvest to hold (preventing erosion) and to improve soil fertility and structure. Cover crops also provide insulation that keeps the soil cool in summer and warm in winter.

Green Manure Crop

A crop that is grown but not harvested, plowed under to improve soil content or prevent erosion

Biofuels

Fuels, such as ethanol or methanol, that are created from the fermentation of plants or plant products.

cellulosic biofuel

Biofuels made from excess plant material (stalks, leaves, stems, cobs) which allows for simultaneous production of food and fuel.

California (food production)

More than half of all the produce grown in the US comes from this state

global food waste

According to the FAO, 25% of global farmland is used to produce food that is wasted. (Rich countries WASTE almost as much food [222 million tons] as all of sub-Saharan Africa produces [230 million tons] each year)

aquaculture

the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of fish, shellfish, algae, and other organisms in all types of water environments.

agroforestry

the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems to create environmental, economic, and social benefits.