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(SDI) also can help international and local analysts and researchers organize large amounts of data in a Food Security Atlas. Food Insecurity in Yemen Yemen is among the poorest countries in the world, with one of the fastest-growing populations (expected to double within the next two decades). As a net food importer that imports between 70 to 90 percent of its main cereals, Yemen was particularly impacted by the 2007/2008 global food crisis, which eroded much of its recent progress in poverty reduction. In response to the deteriorating economic situa- tion, the government of Yemen, in cooperation with a team of international and national experts, proactively pursued the development of a national strategy to address and mitigate the risks of food security and better position itself to respond to future shocks. Researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) supported the Food Security Committee of Yemen—composed of various ministries, civil society and the private sector—in analytical efforts to develop the National Food Security Strategy (NFSS) for Yemen. A three-pronged approach was implemented to better understand the dynamics of Yemen’s food security: 1. Spatial modeling/exploratory spatial data analysis 2. Parametric regression models 3. Economy-wide modeling Findings of the NFSS show that 32 percent of the population is food insecure, and 58 percent of children are malnourished, making Yemen one of the 10 most food-insecure countries in the world (see Figure 1). As part of the analysis to define options for improving Yemen’s food security, IFPRI researchers used advanced spatial techniques such as determin- istic spatial models, spatial statistics and spatial econometric methods to identify key geographic eco- nomic determinants—most notably market access and access to health services—that help explain the spatial heterogeneity of food security and child under- nutrition at the district level. Access to Markets Market access—important for producers and consum- ers—is a key influential indicator of food security, and it’s captured most commonly by the distance or time traveled to the nearest market or place of trade. IFPRI researchers attempted to measure more-accurate travel times (e.g., using topographic land characteristics as a modifying factor), adjusting for different types of roads, steepness of terrain and mode of transport. To relate food-insecure households to their acces- sibility to local markets, researchers used the concept of urban/rural linkages, which takes into account the spatial symbiosis between urban and rural in social, economic and financial aspects. In the absence of data on market locations, local markets were identified geographically within each district using Local Moran’s statistics (a way to assess the significance of local spatial patterns) to find villages with a large population. By employing a shortest-cost-path algorithm, the spatial analysis shows that access to local markets and urban centers is more limited for food-insecure than for food-secure households in Yemen. Regional differences also can be seen. Market access was most limited in the country’s eastern Desert Zone, where an average trip to a local market or urban center takes more than eight hours. The practical policy applications of this indicator and analysis helped the Food Security Committee formu- late priorities in the NFSS related to infrastructure investments and market integration. Access to Health Services Access to quality health services has been estab- lished as an effective way to reduce under-nutrition in many countries. In Yemen, chronic child under- nutrition has remained a key development challenge, lFigure 1. Yemen shows considerable differences in the prevalence of food insecurity by district. JUL Y 2O11 / WWW . GEOPLA CE . COM 27