Food Insecurity: An Ongoing Challenge for Children
Food insecurity continues to be a critical factor in early childhood, leading to increased health care costs and numerous long-term consequences for children’s health. Many young children experience food insecurity at some point in their lives – nearly 134,000 children across the Carolinas are currently food insecure1. Both government and non-government nutrition programs are critical to addressing hunger and should be strengthened, but collective approaches can also provide additional opportunities to address the issue.
A recent paper published in British Medical Journal – Open Quality by members of the Carolinas Collaborative highlights the challenges and opportunities of addressing food insecurity among young children. While pediatricians are encouraged to screen for food insecurity and connect families to resources, health systems and practices experience barriers to implementing universal screening and referral processes that are effective and sustainable. The paper examines how collaboratives can address food insecurity and serves as a blueprint for implementing this collective approach to addressing the issue in pediatric outpatient settings.
“Both government and non-government nutrition programs are critical to addressing hunger and should be strengthened, but collective approaches can also provide additional opportunities to address the issue.”
The paper also emphasizes the importance of knowledge sharing and peer support among institutions in achieving common quality-improvement goals. The Carolinas Collaborative’s published study demonstrates how the harnessing of collaboration to address complex child health issues like food insecurity encourages collective improvement and allows for rapid implementation, dissemination and spread of effective solutions.
As a coordinated pediatric health expert collaborative, the Carolinas Collaborative provides an infrastructure of innovation, training, research and advocacy best practices, to drive scalable child public health solutions within the eight pediatric academic regions in North and South Carolina. Since 2023, the Institute for Child Success has served as the administrative home for the Carolinas Collaborative based on significant alignment of our missions. ICS is proud to support partners like the Carolinas Collaborative that work collectively to help young children reach their full potential through community-based programs and collaboratives focusing on critical needs like food insecurity that significantly impact early childhood. Learn more about the Carolinas Collaborative, Community Pediatrics, and Approaches to Pediatric Food Insecurity.
1Feeding America Research. (n.d.). Map the meal gap: Child food insecurity. Tableau Public.
https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/feeding.america.research/viz/MaptheMealGapChildFoodInsecurity/ChildFoodInsecurity
2Amati JBA, Mehta S, Buitrago Mogollon T, et al. Addressing food insecurity: a paediatric academic advocacy collaborative quality initiative. BMJ Open Quality 2025;14:e003083. doi:10.1136/bmjoq-2024-003083