Abstract
The high prevalence of undernutrition, especially stunting, in Ethiopia hampers the country’s economic productivity and national development. One of the obstacles to overcome undernutrition is the relatively high cost of food for low economic groups. In this study, linear programming was used to (i) identify urban and rural nutritionally adequate food baskets (FBs) with the highest affordability for an Ethiopian family of five and (ii) create urban and rural FBs, optimized for cultural acceptability, which are affordable for a family with the lowest income. Nutritionally adequate rural and urban FBs with highest affordability cost as little as Ethiopian Birr (ETB) 31 and 38 (~USD 1.07 and 1.31), respectively, but have poor dietary diversity (16 and 19 foods). FBs that cost ETB 71.2 (~USD 2.45) contained 64 and 48 foods, respectively, and were much more similar to the food supply pattern reported by FAO (15% and 19% average relative deviation per food category). The composed FBs, which are affordable for the greater part of the Ethiopian population, may serve as a basis for the development of culturally acceptable food-based dietary guidelines. These guidelines would recommend a diet composed of approximately up to 60% cereals, up to 20% roots and tubers, 10% legumes, and 10% fruits and vegetables by weight, plus only a small share from animal foods.
Highlights
Malnutrition remains a major public health problem in Ethiopia as 38% of children under the age of five are stunted and 24% are underweight
Linear programming (LP) was applied to the food and price data collected, and the rural and urban food baskets with highest affordability, calculated for a family of five where all energy requirements (EER), acceptable macronutrient distribution ranges (AMDR), and recommended nutrient intakes (RNIs) are achieved, contained only 16 or 19 foods and cost 31.0 Ethiopian Birr (ETB) or 38.1 ETB (~USD 1.07 and 1.31), respectively (Table 3)
Both baskets contained mainly maize, seeds, vegetables, barley, beans, and other pulses, along with
Summary
Malnutrition remains a major public health problem in Ethiopia as 38% of children under the age of five are stunted and 24% are underweight. Eighteen percent of women in reproductive age, 34% pre-school children, and 7% school-aged children suffer from iron deficiency anaemia [4]. This prevalence is exacerbated by insufficient intake of folic acid and vitamin B12 [5,6]. Iodine deficiency has resulted in a goitre prevalence of 40% among children and 36% among women, i.e., in rural environments [4], with 39–70% of the population being at risk, females of reproductive age [8,9]
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