Nutrition fragility in isolation: Food insecurity in Small Island Developing States

High reliance on food imports, unbalanced diets, limited cultivable land, scarce fresh water resources and remoteness are typical food security constraints for Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Calls for evidence-based food policy interventions are, therefore, justified. Yet, SIDS studies on food security are often outdated, focus on one country and use exclusive data and dedicated methodologies that cannot be applied elsewhere. This study standardized its methodology to assess availability of food groups and micronutrients at a SIDS-wide level. We use the latest release from FAO’s harmonized Food Balance Sheets and improve actual intake by correcting for food waste and lower micronutrient thresholds for under-fives. We make results interpretable with geo-visualization techniques and infographics that map food group and micronutrient availability per country against required needs. A great share of countries (94%) fails to meet food group requirements; 43% does not meet the requirement of five or more of the eight food groups. None of the SIDS meet the required doses for micronutrients and only 14% meets requirements of 13 or 14 of the 15 micronutrients, yet, 31% of the SIDS misses 6 to 8 micronutrients. Overweight prevalence is closely correlated to food group availability while stunting can be largely explained by income level. The findings prioritize policy actions by identifying absence of dietary diversity. The approach is adequate and cost-efficient based on existing databases that are regularly updated. Timeliness and country coverage of SIDS in some international databases need serious improvement.