**1. Introduction**

## **1.1 Food and nutrition security**

The FAO-organized Food Summit in Rome in 1996 recognized the need to ensure physical and economic access to safe and nutritious food, if the nutritional needs of any population have to be met and for them to lead an active and healthy lifestyle [1]. However, the FAO World Food Summit of 2001 refined the definition to include health care and sanitation aspects in the context of the environment in

which the food is consumed. Thus food security can be defined in six dimensions that are interrelated, which are: physical availability of food, economic and physical access to food, affordability of the food supply, availability of adequate and safe food, the utilization or the ability of the body to make use of the nutrients and the stability of the dimensions; in summary, the dimensions are access, availability, adequacy, safety, affordability and stability. Even though food is recognized as a universal human right due to its central role in human development, it is currently unmet for billions of people in the world. The state of food and nutrition insecurity is a daily experience in many parts of developing countries, with most countries of Africa being victims of the situation. From the above definition, the United Nations Steering Committee on Nutrition opined that the link of food sufficiency and nutrition status of the consumer should be clearly brought out whenever the subject of food security is discussed. This is because when we consume food, it is supposed to supply the right nutrients in the proportions and form that the body needs for optimal metabolic, physical and physiological functioning. Thus the improved definition that brings out both aspects includes: "access by all people, at all times, by any physical, social and economic means to food that is consumed in adequate quantity and quality, to be able to meet their dietary preferences and needs, and is supported by a sanitary environment, where access to health services and care is assured in order for the consumer to live a healthy and active lifestyle". It therefore follows that any discussion on food and nutrition security, should consider physical access, availability, affordability, adequacy, quality and stability of the food supply. Quality in this respect encompasses not only physical fitness for purpose of the food item, but its being safe and in the form expected for it to be acceptable to the consumer [2]. The food consumed must meet the quality and quantity requirements of age, gender, occupation and health status of the consumer [3]. Adequate and proper nutritional quality of the food supply is an essential prerequisite for maintaining good health status. The critical role nutrition plays in health and human development, warrants greater commitment to the attainment of good nutritional status. The member states of the East African Community (EAC) have ratified a wide range of international covenants and committed themselves to ending hunger and malnutrition among their populations. Building on these commitments, the current article examines the status and prospects for Food and Nutrition Security in the Member States of the East African Community (EAC). It discusses some basic facts of the Region and delves into the subject matter of the thesis, with the situation in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, being examined in some detail. The current chapter also provides a set of recommendations for improving the food and nutrition security situation in the future for each country.
