Characterization and challenges of food environments of children-under-five in north Benin drylands

Abstract

Food environments play a crucial role in children's diets by influencing households' supply and access to nutritious foods. By gaining insight into the food environments, there is a potential to design better interventions to reduce the burden of children's malnutrition. However, in the African drylands, data on food environments are limited. This study aims to characterize the current food environments of children-under-five in north Benin drylands. To achieve this, we conducted individual interviews with key informants (n=11) to identify relevant actors and villages for data collection. Focus group discussions (n=12) were then conducted to capture information on the existing foods. Furthermore, we examined markets, shops, and domestic stalls (n=17) to obtain information on the prices of food sold, their properties, and promotional activities related to their sale. Descriptive statistics and multiple correspondence analysis were performed to describe the dimensions and clusters of the food environments, as well as the types of food environments present and the challenges associated with accessing nutritious foods.The study identified a total of 94 foods, which were categorized into four clusters. Clusters 1 and 2 relate to seasonal foods, foods obtained from agriculture, livestock, or forests, and foods available year-round in local markets. In contrast, Clusters 3 and 4 relate to packaged and imported foods that are available year-round in shops and pharmacies. These findings indicate that the food environment in the study area is in transition, featuring both natural and informal market types. The challenges related to accessing nutritious foods include the affordability of processed nutritious foods from the informal market type, as well as the continuous supply of nutritious food from the natural food environment type. Addressing these challenges will require the development of food policies and new interventions and study aimed at improving the external dimensions of the food environment.