Email not displaying correctly? Click here to view it in your browser. Introduction: Tragic Failures in a Sea of Success The human nutrition calculus has improved markedly in the AsiaPacific over the past half century. Green Revolution technologies and the effectiveness of the high level of priority given to food sector issues during the latter half of the 20th century have brought the region from the precipice of acute food insecurity to levels at which far fewer citizens endemically lack access to sufficient and adequately nutritious foods (Hazell and Haddad, 2001; Hazell, 2009). Asian wheat, rice and maize yields grew at annual rates of 5.43, 3.25 and 4.62 per cent respectively between 1967 and 1982, primarily as the result of the planting of fastergrowing varieties, access to more effective and widely used irrigation systems and greater profitability levels for NTS Alert June 2011 (Issue 1) Click here for the PDF version. FOOD AND HEALTH IN THE ASIAPACIFIC: THE ECONOMICS OF ACCESS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH By J. Jackson Ewing and Ong Suan Ee This is the first of a twopart NTS Alert series that will explore the intersection between food security and health issues in the Asia Pacific. This NTS Alert focuses on health problems stemming from the enduring challenge of maintaining adequate levels of food across multiple populations living in diverse conditions. Shortcomings in food access still plague many areas in the region and create pervasive and wideranging problems for public health. The second NTS Alert, to be released later this month, will explore the potential health impacts of hightech agricultural strategies and modern food distribution systems that are advocated by many as being the keys to improving food security throughout much of the region. Children receiving food rations at a welfare centre in Cambodia. Access to food remains a problem in the AsiaPacific, and this has significant ramifications for the health of vulnerable groups such as women and children from lowincome households. Credit: mrcharly/flickr.com Contents: l Introduction: Tragic Failures in a Sea of Success l Small Farmers, Big System: The Macroeconomic Complexities of Food in the AsiaPacific l Food Access and Child Health