Public health research: How food insecurity affects health - and how healthcare can help

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5/Grade 9-10 and Grade 11-12 Biology and Geography.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks (UK):
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Deepak Palakshappa from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in the US. He is investigating how food insecurity is linked to health issues, and how healthcare systems can support socioeconomic efforts to tackle these problems

• This resource also contains an interview with Deepak, and offers an insight into careers in public health research. If your students have questions for Deepak, they can send them through the Futurum Careers website.

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Deepak’s research and challenges them to make a mind-map of the causes and effects of food insecurity, and of the interventions that can help to alleviate it.

This resource was first published by Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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