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Geographic inequity in healthy food environment and type 2 diabetes: can we please turn off the tap?

Equity Focus

This study targets the determinants that prevent healthy eating

Case Summary

The project gathered geocoded data from the Yellow Pages using a geographic information system to calculate the number of greengrocers, supermarkets, takeaway shops and alcohol outlets within a 1.6 km road network distance from a person’s home. In selected areas of western Sydney and the north shore, most neighbourhoods did have access to at least one greengrocer or supermarket. Those neighbourhoods in blue (379 [6%]), however, did not have a greengrocer or supermarket within 1.6 km. It was more common in the west than in the north (261 [8%] v 118 [4%]) for residents to most likely rely on public or private transport to obtain fresh produce.

Lessons Learned

• In Australia’s largest city, there is a clear spatial mismatch, in which many communities — where access to a car is not guaranteed and public transport options can be thin, where social and economic pressures weighheavy, and where diet-related health challenges are considerable — have few opportunities to purchase fresh produce close to home.

LINK TO CASE STUDY