Food and Nutrition Security in Families with Boys and Girls under 10 Years of Age with Malnutrition in Galapa, Atlantico Colombia

Aleyda Parra Castillo,Sandra Gomez Aguirre

doi:10.19026/ajfst.16.5952

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the level of food and nutritional security in families of children under 10 years of age with malnutrition attended in the program for growth and development of the hospital State Social Enterprise of Galapa (ESE Galapa) in Galapa (Atlántico, Colombia). A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample randomly selected of 170 families that attended the program during 2015, with 70% of minimum attendance required. The variables considered were, social and demographic conditions, nutritional status and level of food security. Food security status was classified using the Latin-American and Caribbean Scale of Food Safety (ELCSA) as an instrument for data collection. Forty-five-point three percent of the families presented food and nutritional insecurity, families with children in risk of malnutrition and obesity presented major trend of food and nutritional severe insecurity. The prevalence of the nutritional condition as well as the food and nutritional insecurity of this population is related directly on the parent’s occupation, their income and their ages, since 57.64% was unemployed, 39.41% of the parents only earn a minimum wage and 68.3% are between 15 and 30 years old. The study showed that families with boys and girls with malnutrition are on low food insecurity level corresponding to 25.9% among all.

Highlights

For the estimation of World Food Security, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) uses the number of undernourished people, which means that the calorie intake is less than the minimum needed
A study conducted in Mexico in 2013, on the magnitude of Food Insecurity (FI), its relationship with the state of nutrition and socioeconomic factors, reported that "One in three households suffers from Food Insecurity (FI) in its moderate or severe form, in addition to chronic malnutrition in children under 5 years affects 1.5 million children"
In Mexico in 2012 (a research was conducted on the epidemiology of food security, which determined that at the national level, 41.6% of Mexican households classified as mild food insecure, 17.7% as moderate AI and 10.5% in severe AI (Mundo-Rosas et al, 2013)

Summary

Introduction

For the estimation of World Food Security, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) uses the number of undernourished people, which means that the calorie intake is less than the minimum needed. The latest FAO reports indicated a reduction in global hunger, between 2012 and 2014, estimated that about 805 million people were chronically malnourished, a decrease of >100 million in the last decade and 209 million < in 1990-92. A study conducted in Mexico in 2013, on the magnitude of Food Insecurity (FI), its relationship with the state of nutrition and socioeconomic factors, reported that "One in three households suffers from Food Insecurity (FI) in its moderate or severe form, in addition to chronic malnutrition in children under 5 years affects 1.5 million children". In Mexico in 2012 (a research was conducted on the epidemiology of food security, which determined that at the national level, 41.6% of Mexican households classified as mild food insecure, 17.7% as moderate AI and 10.5% in severe AI (Mundo-Rosas et al, 2013)

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