Let's Talk About Mental Health: Community solutions to moving beyond the scarcity trap

More than 80 percent of the food sold on the Navajo Nation qualifies as “junk food”— products high in salt, fat and sugar—and Navajo citizens struggle with disproportionately high rates of heart disease, obesity and diabetes. But on April 1, the Healthy Dine Nation Act, colloquially known as the “junk food tax,” took effect in the Navajo Nation, adding a two percent tax to unhealthy foods like chips, candy and soda while eliminating taxes on healthy items like fresh fruits and vegetables.

The Green Revolution in Asia and Latin America never spread to Africa, due to the continent's varied climate, degraded soil and lack of infrastructure. Now, scientists look to develop a high grossing wheat seed to bring a new green revolution to Africa. The seeds are extremely promising, but there are still some challenges to getting farmers to implement the seeds.

Officials in Niger are addressing chronic severe droughts causing food shortages and leading to a widespread threat of starvation. They provide aid to malnourished children and resources for a crop planting technique called 're-greening,' which aims to reforest agricultural regions, restore soil quality and, in turn, increase food supply.

World Concern, a Seattle-based Christian humanitarian group, provides people around the world with vouchers they can use in select markets, rather than the traditional emergency food aid of rice and other grains. In Dhobley, Somalia, the solution of vouchers quickens the process of receiving the food and contributes to the local economy.

In Jakarta’s slums, families can’t buy their children nutritious food. So Mercy Corps started a for-profit chain of food carts selling healthy kids’ meals. A second column highlights the challenges NGOs face when they try to start for-profit businesses.

The Bronx is working to solve obesity by turning to healthy eating in a society where fast food is cheaper and of greater quantity. It turns out that increasing access to fruits and vegetables, which the Bronx has done, makes no difference in whether or not people actually eat it - but one resident may have the answer.

Through creative financing and new technology, a non-profit in San Francisco is making farmers markets more accessible to residents who rely on federal nutrition benefits.

Organizations in Detroit are piloting a program to apply food stamp credits in grocery stores towards the purchase of nutritious produce, in order to increase access to healthy items. The initiative can also help the local economy prosper through increased promotion of locally grown produce.

America is the world’s main supplier of food aid to impoverished countries; however, food aid has the problems of long-distance transportation, the cost of the transportation and storage, and the navigation through dangerous zones. Different programs around the world are experimenting with alternative forms of aid, including vouchers and cash for work.

During rain seasons in Bangladesh, rivers flooded villages and their agriculture so that local economies and food supplies were in jeopardy. A Bangladeshi non-profit Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha introduced small floating farms designed to be run by women. Consequently, the organization has initiated 40 floating farms that serve 300 rural women and save local agriculture.