Food Security and Health Vulnerabilities of Older People
摘要
The vulnerability of older people to extreme weather events is multidimensional – geophysical, personal, and socioeconomic – that they face each year due to their individual and socioeconomic conditions and needs. The interactions between extreme climatic events and exposure, impact, socioeconomic conditions and capacities collectively influence the extent of their vulnerability. They suffer from extreme weather-events-induced loss of life and property, poor health and disease, unemployment and lack of income (as described in chapter five), which further increases their vulnerability. The devastating impact of extreme weather events on the health and socioeconomic conditions of older people results in deaths, injuries and a range of losses (Bayraktar & Dal Yilmaz, 2018). This chapter examines food insecurity and deterioration of health and wellbeing, which older people in the area experienced before, during and after extreme weather events. The findings showed that older people in the region were vulnerable to food insecurity. They had only limited access to family food and nutrients compared to their younger counterparts due to the continuous impact of extreme weather events on their socio-economic conditions. Their testimonies suggested that they suffer from various illnesses – physical and mental – resulting from extreme natural disasters. The extreme events were also found to affect their interpersonal and social relationships and mutual support, increasing their vulnerability.