Household Food Expenditure Share During Pregnancy: Evidence From Rural Sri Lanka

Abstract

ObjectivesMaternal nutritional requirements are expected to vary during pregnancy due to changing demands. Household food expenditure (HFE) reflects the affordability for these nutritional demands. We explored the relationship between household income and the HFE during pregnancy. MethodsThe study was a part of Rajarata Pregnancy Cohort (RaPCo), a prospective cohort conducted in Anuradhapura district, Sri Lanka in 2019. Participants were recruited in the 1st trimester and followed up monthly for household expenditure data using a self-administered questionnaire. The associations between household income and HFE during all three trimesters were assessed with one-way ANOVA, repeated measure ANOVA, and correlation analysis. ResultsThe sample sizes for each trimester were 1288,1049, and 168 pregnant women respectively. The mean (SD) age was 28.3 (5.6) years. The mean (SD) monthly household income and the expenditure were USD 261.29 (203.58) and USD 168.41 (108.68) respectively. The mean (SD) monthly HFE for each trimester were USD 55.18 (32.90), USD 55.07 (30.93), and USD 55.46 (31.67). There was a weak positive correlation (r = 0.022, p = 0.429) between household income and HFE in the 1st trimester and there were significant positive correlations in the 2nd (r = 0.275, p = 0.001) and 3rd trimesters (r = 0.403, p = 0.001). The household food expenditure share (HFES) out of total expenditure across three trimesters (35.0%, 33.3%, and 36.3%) were significantly different [F(2,134) = 3.82, p = 0.024]. The HFES in the income quintiles showed statistically significant difference only in the 2nd trimester [F(4,871) = 9.97, p = 0.001] and the HFHS from the lowest to the highest quintile were 36.1%, 31.7%, 32.1%, 30.0%, and 27.7% respectively. ConclusionsOn average, Sri Lankan rural pregnant women spend USD 55.24 as HFE and the HFES is 34.9%. The reported HFES value is consistent with the national household estimates in Sri Lanka. Even though the income is positively correlated with food expenditure, the HFES across income quintiles remain high during pregnancy, which reflects the perceived importance of addressing food requirements irrespective of the income. Funding SourcesAccelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development (AHEAD), World Bank.