Beyond Hunger: Food Insecurity, Unhealthy Diets, and the Public Health Challenge of Malnutrition
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 15
Special Issue Editors
2. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
Interests: public health nutrition; commercial determinants of health; obesity prevention; double-burden of malnutrition; human rights
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
It is an established fact that eating well and being healthy are deeply interlinked. While food insecurity had been a defining challenge for food systems on a global scale, it no longer characterises the spectrum of challenges public health nutrition faces. Globally, food insecurity coexists with triple-burden malnutrition (over-nutrition, under-nutrition, and micro-nutrient deficiences), which is leading to increasing rates of diet-related disease across the human life cycle. These increases in diet-related disease are driven by a complex set of structural influences over food systems and the influence of corporate actors. Moreover, these challenges are exacerbated by the impact of climate change and the threat to food security but may also be worsened by the current state of the food system. Addressing this modern challenge of malnutrition requires a bold and integrated approach to food system transformation that accounts for nutrition, food security, sustainability, and health.
Thus, the aim of this Special Issue is to be a forum for discussions centered on the field of public health nutrition by exploring the problems public health nutrition needs to address, conceptualising or describing their relationships, and offering integrated solutions.
Addressing all of these issues similtaneously is challenging. Therefore, for this Special Issue, we welcome contributions that engage with any aspect of this complex terrain. Submissions need not address every element of the challenges posed by poor diet and food insecurity in a warming world but should substantively engage with structural influences on food and nutrition. Papers that focus only on food insecurity or individual interventions would not be suitable for this Special Issue.
Given the complexity of the challenges and the difficulties in identifying integrated solutions, we are particularly interested in papers that articulate, frame, or conceptualise these intersecting challenges and/or propose actionable, double, or triple-duty interventions as solutions. A wide range of article formats are encouraged, including empirical research, conceptual or theoretical work, policy and legal analyses, and interdisciplinary scholarship.
Dr. Safura Abdool Karim
Dr. Tamryn Frank
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- public health nutrition
- commercial determinants of health
- triple-burden of malnutrition
- food system transformation
- triple-duty interventions
- sustainable food systems
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