Abstract
While much focus has been put on rural household food insecurity, with increasing urbanisation leading to urban slum formation, food insecurity is potentially on the rise particularly among women of reproductive age (WRA). We determined the prevalence and factors associated with food insecurity among women aged 18-49 years in Makindye slums of Kampala capital city, Uganda. In a community based cross-sectional study, we recruited a random sample of 573 women aged 18-49 years, resident in the slums for at least one year prior to the study. Quantitative data were collected using interviewer administered questionnaires while qualitative information was obtained through key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Multivariable logistic regression (using STATA® 13) and manifest content analysis methods were used to analyse quantitative and qualitative data respectively. Of the 573 participants, 60.7% were aged 20-34 years, 53.7% were married/cohabiting, 12.2% had no formal education and 82.5% lived in rented homes. Overall 88.5% of the women were food insecure of which 68.4% were severely food insecure. Factors that increased likeli hood of food insecurity were; socioeconomic factors such as absence of electricity in the household (AOR; 2.2, 95%CI: 1.05-4.86, p = 0.036) and having more than one school going child (AOR; 2.6, 95%CI: 1.42-4.89, p = 0.002). Qualitative findings indicate that food insecurity is indeed a problem among women in the slums with unemployment, high food prices, poverty and increasing number of household members reported as the major causes of food insecurity. The prevalence of food insecurity among women in Kampala slums is high. These findings suggest the need to invest in economic empowerment of women with emphasis on those living in deprived communities.
Highlights
Food security whether occurring at individual, household, national, regional and global levels is achieved when all people, at all times, have social, physical and economic access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for a healthy and active life [1]
Domestic violence was reported as one of the causes of food insecurity and as a result of this, men neglect their responsibility of providing food for the family and this greatly affects the woman as an individual
“but when ever these people have a miss understanding and bring cases to the Local Council (LC) there will be no eating of food you find a man when he has said that to hell with you, you can stay without food” (KII kikubamutwe)
Summary
Food security whether occurring at individual, household, national, regional and global levels is achieved when all people, at all times, have social, physical and economic access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for a healthy and active life [1]. Food insecurity among women of reproductive age (WRA) is a serious public health problem with adverse effects on the women, pregnancy outcomes and child survival; as well as on the economic development of the country negatively impacting the country’s gross domestic product [6]. WRA who are food insecure are susceptible to poor health and nutritional status which reduces their economic productivity/employment opportunities [7], propagates the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition, leading to increased risk of maternal and child morbidity and mortality [8,9] and poor cognitive and physical development among surviving children [10,11]. To address the aforementioned gaps, we conducted a study using individual level data, to determine the prevalence and factors associated with food insecurity among WRA residing in urban slums of Kampala city, Uganda
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