Prevalence of Food Insecurity in Eastern Part of Libya: A Study of Associated Factors

Abstract

Food security refers to the food availability and the ability to access it by each individual in the community. Food security can be measured by daily calorie intake by a person per day, which accessible and available on a household budget. Several factors affect the level of family food security. This paper aims to describe the prevalence of food insecurity in the eastern part of Libya, and its relationship with household and individual socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. It also provides estimates of dietary energy consumption and inequality in food consumption among the eastern part Libyan population. Tobrouk city has the highest average dietary energy consumption while Darnah city has the lowest average dietary energy consumption. Only (25%) of the subjects consume adequate daily energy consumption; (11%) and (63%) of the subjects consume low and high daily energy consumption respectively. Gender, family size, and living area are the factors associated with the level of food adequacy among the subjects of this study at P (< 0.05). Management of food insecurity in Libya requires comprehensive, well designed, and thoughtful food security policies.