And yet it is possible to read through this list of problems, and through the attached proceedings and draw some different conclusions that provide a hopeful new orientation. To date this has not worked. All over the world, food is still not a right, and hunger exists and is on the rise in most countries. As the Food 2002 conference made so clear, the strategy of arguing that food security will be achieved through increased income security is, at least at this point in time, unable to capture a full public consensus. The example of health care might offer some insights.
Health care becomes a right for everyone in a very simple way.
A national health care system does not come into being by people getting more money so they can buy the medical services they need and want through the market system. A quick look south of the border reveals that a fully privatized market-based system of health care delivery is completely incapable of delivering universal health care to all citizens. This is also the case for food. To end hunger we may have to extend the analysis to suggest that healthy basic foods need to be available free, or wholesale to the entire population. In this model, prepared or fast foods would continue to be the main focus of the marketplace food system, with basic raw food products, fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and beans, becoming available through subsidized, non marketplace, mechanisms.