IB Geography: Optional theme: Food and health practice questions

Question 1

India's national dietary energy supply is above average requirements, yet the National Family Health Survey of 2019-21 found that about 57 % of women aged 15-49 were anaemic, and many low-income diets rest on refined cereals and cooking oil. Which term describes this nutritional situation most precisely?

Accepted Answer

Malnutrition caused by poor dietary quality — Malnutrition covers any imbalance of energy or nutrients, including micronutrient deficiency such as iron. Undernourishment refers only to insufficient dietary energy, which is not what these households lack - which is why a national calorie figure can look adequate while anaemia stays common.

Question 2

In rural districts of Malawi many households live more than an hour's walk from the nearest health centre, although the government reports the same national immunisation target for every district. Which indicator would best expose this inequality in access to health care?

Accepted Answer

Births attended by skilled health personnel, by district — Only a service-use indicator broken down by district shows who actually reaches care; national averages and spending totals hide the sub-national gap that walking distance creates. Access indicators measure provision reaching people, not money allocated or food available.

Question 3

Fulani herders in the Sahel of Niger move cattle across large areas of dry grassland, buy almost no external inputs, and consume most of the milk and meat within their own households, selling only small surpluses in local markets. How is this food production system best classified?

Accepted Answer

Extensive subsistence pastoralism — Intensity is measured by inputs per hectare, not by the total area used, so a large, low-input system is extensive. Output consumed mainly within the producing household, with only a small surplus sold, is subsistence rather than commercial.

Question 4

A new influenza strain appears first in the largest cities on several continents that are linked by direct flights, and reaches small rural towns only weeks later. Which type of diffusion does this pattern show?

Accepted Answer

Hierarchical diffusion — Hierarchical diffusion jumps down a settlement hierarchy along connections rather than spreading outwards into neighbouring space, which is what contagious diffusion would produce.

Question 5

Highland districts of Kenya above about 2 000 m have historically had very little malaria transmission, although Anopheles mosquitoes are common in the lowlands nearby. Which physical factor best explains this?

Accepted Answer

Temperatures are too low for the parasite to develop in the mosquito — Development of Plasmodium inside the mosquito effectively stops below roughly 18 degrees C, so altitude limits transmission through temperature, not through the absence of the vector. Warming is now pushing transmission into some of these highland fringes.

Question 6

During a public health emergency a middle-income government authorises a domestic firm to manufacture a patented medicine without the patent holder's agreement, paying a set royalty. Which mechanism is being used?

Accepted Answer

Compulsory licensing — Compulsory licensing is permitted under the WTO TRIPS agreement and was confirmed for public health emergencies by the Doha Declaration of 2001. Parallel importing buys the same branded product more cheaply abroad instead of producing it locally.

Optional theme: Food and health practice questions.

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