A Community-Based Survey of Household Food Insecurity and Associated Sociodemographic Factors among 2-6 Years Old Children in the Southeast of Iran.

Mitra Sotoudeh,Mona Jonoush,Sara Amaniyan,Mojtaba Vaismoradi

doi:10.3390/nu13020574

Abstract

Malnutrition remains a major public health issue in developing and transitional countries and food insecurity is a major indicator of the nutritional status in these societies. This research aimed to investigate the status of household food insecurity and sociodemographic factors affecting it among 2–6 years old children in an urban area in the southeast of Iran. A community-based survey was conducted from September to January 2018 on 421 children aged 2–6 years who were selected using stratified cluster random sampling. They lived in six different areas in an urban area in the southeast of Iran. Data was collected using the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Security questionnaire and anthropometric measurements. Our study showed that the prevalence of food insecurity among children was 81.7% consisting of 2.6% with low food security, 9.2% with moderate food insecurity, and 69.9% with very low food security. The weight gain of those children who were in the low food security group, was 2.63 times lower than those children in the food security group. Moreover, the chance of weight gain in the low food security and in the moderate food insecurity groups was less as 1.91 and 1.41 times, respectively. Food insecurity in children aged 2–6 years is influenced by various sociodemographic factors including weight and height, mother’s education level, sanitation as access to water closet (WC). Policymakers should plan to improve the quality of life and health of the children through improving their food security.

Highlights

Food insecurity as a global challenge can lead to humanitarian catastrophes worldwide
It has been estimated that 20–60% of households in Iran suffer from food insecurity and the inappropriate child food security status could be more common in poor provinces such as those located in the southeast of Iran [19]
This study aimed to investigate the household food insecurity and identify sociodemographic factors affecting it among 2–6 years old children in an urban area in the southeast of Iran

Summary

Introduction

Food insecurity as a global challenge can lead to humanitarian catastrophes worldwide. Food insecurity is associated with starvation and destitution, and is considered a global universal public health problem with long-time negative consequences for children’s health It is a risk factor for child’s growth, because appropriate nutrition and adequate meal affect child’s well-being, physical, mental, and social development and his/her future health and welfare [4,5]. Those children who suffer from food insecurity are more likely to experience adulthood issues in terms of poor education outcomes and lower economic status [6]. 69.2% of the children in the moderate food insecurity group and 70.4% of the insecure children in the very low food security group were classified as normal weight for height (Table 3). 72.5% of the children with arm circumference greater than 11.5 cm had normal weight, but 50% of the children with arm circumference less than 11.5 cm were wasted (p < 0.01)

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Discussion

Conclusion