Using a Household Food Inventory to Assess the Availability of Traditional Vegetables among Resettled African Refugees

Abstract

A cross-sectional sequential explanatory mixed methods study was conducted among household food preparers to examine the association between home availability and consumption of traditional vegetables among resettled African refugees living in Queensland, Australia. Home availability of traditional African vegetables was associated with age, having a vegetable garden, employment status, and having a supermarket in the local neighborhood. Food preparers from homes with low vegetable availability were less likely to consume the recommended number of vegetable servings. Barriers faced in the food environment included language, lack of availability of traditional vegetables and lack of transport. All of these aspects contributed to the study findings that both individual and food environment characteristics may play a role in access to and availability of food and vegetable consumption of resettled refugees. Consumption of traditional foods among the resettled refugees continues post resettlement.

What factors are associated with obesity‐related health behaviours among child refugees following resettlement in developed countries? A systematic review and synthesis of qualitative and quantitative evidence

“…The included studies involved a diverse range of ethnicities; the majority focused on refugees originating from countries in three distinct regions: Southeast Asia (Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Hmong refugees), sub‐Saharan Africa (Sudan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Djibouti Kenya, Tanzania, Eritrea, and Ethiopia), and Middle Eastern countries (Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq). Most of the studies were conducted in Australia 18,54–58,72–74 or the United States of Ameirca 22,23,25,28,29,59,60,69,70,71 . No study was conducted in the United Kingdom.…”

“…Many sub‐Saharan African refugee parents reported that language acted as a barrier to the purchase of healthy food (i.e., the inability to read labels in English) and it also shaped their food shopping patterns, by limiting the foods they recognised or knew how to cook without reading instructions. This subsequently affected their children's diet 57 . An additional study found that children of sub‐Saharan African refugee parents with low English competency reported a greater intake of ‘soda’ and ‘snacks’ as these were preprepared and obviated the need to read instructions 71 .…”

Forced international migration for refugee food: a scoping review

“…This category covered 8 studies 17,[20][21][22][23]25,27,28 which presented aspects related to social, cultural, political and economic difficulties of access to food in refugee detention centers, refugee camps and in settlement destination countries.…”

“…The results showed that age, employment, cultivation of vegetables and access to supermarkets in the neighborhood were factors that allowed access to traditional foods of the African culture. It is also pointed out that the language and the fact of having to seek access to food in other neighborhoods are impeding factors in accessing their food of preference 22 .…”

“…This category encompassed 9 studies 12,13,15,[17][18][19]22,24,26 which provided perspectives on feeding and adaptation of the refugee population to new food crops in camps and settlements. Resettlement in the refugee country presents new realities to refugee families, such as exposure to new eating habits, acquisition of food of low cost and nutritional quality, new habits of living, practice of sedentary activities such as watching television, playing video games and using computers.…”