Prof. Miller Addresses the Urgent Need for Action on Food Insecurity in the U.S.

According to BUSSW Associate Professor Daniel P. Miller, “The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about renewed attention to food insecurity, which even before this recent crisis was a persistent social problem. Though official data have not yet been released, all signs point to dramatic increases in food insecurity and other types of poverty and hardship in the wake of the global pandemic.”

His talk at a recent symposium hosted by the California Maternal and Child Health Leadership Training Network (CAMCHLTN) focused on food insecurity and its effects on maternal and child health highlighted the relationships between policies and the health, economic and social welfare of children and their parents. Miller stated, “Despite widespread recognition of the problem and an increasingly clear sense of its harmful effects, our nation has lacked the political will to eradicate food insecurity either through the provision of food or money to families in need.” 

At a roundtable discussion on food insecurity among U.S. veterans and military families, hosted by The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and co-sponsored by the Bob Woodruff Foundation, Prof. Miller joined leading experts on food insecurity and veterans/military families from government, philanthropy, and academia. His research (co-authored with Profs. Tom Byrne and Ellen DeVoe from BUSSW and Mary Jo Larson from Brandeis University) featured prominently in materials circulated to participants and in the recap web post authored by the director of the Global Food Security Program at CSIS

Miller’s work points out that food insecurity is more common among low socioeconomic status homes and has demonstrated its pernicious impact. In a previous study on Policies to Reduce Food Insecurity (co-authored with BUSSW  PhD alum Maggie Thomas) they make the case that it is an ethical imperative for our society to eliminate food insecurity.

Miller emphasizes that “researchers at BUSSW whose work focuses on the overlapping social ills of poverty and material hardship, have uncovered and defined the ways that social policies can be used to prevent these problems and reduce their negative consequences.”

Learn More about Prof. Miller’s Research