New tool shows food access map

The Partnership for a Healthier America, with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has released the Food Equity Opportunity Map.

The map provides a visual tool to understand healthy food access and its health impact in communities across the country, according to a news release. The map highlights areas of the U.S. where improving access to good and nutritious food would make the greatest impact. 

“Food is the number one driver of good health, and in too many places, good food is either too expensive, too far away, or both,” Noreen Springstead, president and CEO of Partnership for a Healthier America, said in the release.

“Partnership for a Healthier America is working to improve food equity in communities around the country on a daily basis. By identifying the regions with the greatest need for improvements in food access, we’re taking the first steps in building community health and ensuring that every person has equitable access to healthy and affordable food options.”

The map looks at regions around the country on a community-by-community level, analyzing residents’ access to good food, ability to afford good food, consumption of good food, and rates of Type 2 diabetes, a disease that is closely connected to nutrition, according to the release.

The release of the new map builds on growing momentum to address the nationwide nutrition gap, the release said. 

At last September's White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, PHA announced its commitment to add 100 million additional servings of vegetables, fruits and beans to the marketplace around the country by 2025.

PHA’s existing programming, through initiatives like Good Food for All, has already brought over 22 million servings of fruits and vegetables to tens of thousands of families in 29 cities, according to the release.