ABSTRACT
Food security depends on access to and availability of food, in terms of financial, physical, and social aspects, followed by proper utilization of the food. The study was designed to determine the food security and anthropometric status of primary school children in selected rural communities in Umuahia North L.G.A in Abia state. A total of 240 respondents were selected using simple random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain information about the children studied. The questionnaire comprised of food security questionnaire (Modified from the USDA food security core-model), food records and socio-economic characteristics of the children and their parents. Anthropometric status of the children were assessed using the weight for age, height for age, and Body Mass Index for age indicators. The result revealed that were more males (52.9%) than female (47.1%) pupils. More than half (50.4%) of the children were between 8-10 years. The class range of the respondents involved in this study was between primary 1- primary 6 and majority of them were in primary 3 (27.1%) and primary 4 (32.9%). The result further revealed that most (47.9%) children lived with both parents. Occupational status of the respondent’s parents showed while majority of the respondents fathers were civil servants (32.5%), traders/business men (21.3%) and artisans (20.4%), their mothers were mainly farmers (29.6%) and civil servants (19.2%). Also quite a good number of the respondent’s fathers and mothers (27.5%, 23.3%) had received tertiary education. Results on food record of children showed that most children consumed their breakfast (84.6%), lunch (47.5%) and dinner (81.2%) meals at home. Breakfast (60.4%) and lunch (56.7%) and dinner (56.7%) meals were mostly prepared by their mothers. Results on the respondents food security status showed that (50.8%) of the respondents were food insecure with hunger, a quarter (25.8%) of the children were food insure without hunger. Extreme forms of food security status that some of them were either food secured (15.0%) or food insure with severe hunger (8.4%). Severe form of food insecurity status was found to be higher in the girls (14.2%) than boys (11.0%). Results on anthropometric status revealed that majority of the children had normal height for age (87.6%), weight for age (98.6%) and BMI for age (79.6%), while (1.2%) and (0.8%) were found to be underweight and stunted respectively. The prevalence of overweight and obesity were found to be (12.5%) and (2.4%) respectively. This result reflects the reality of double burden of malnutrition in this community. Correlation analysis revealed that a significant but negative correlation exists between being food insecure and having a lower BMI for age z score (r = -0.18, P >0.01). A balance in the care of the mother towards the child’s school going activities and her feeding practices will reduce the incidence of malnutrition.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE i
CERTIFICATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMET iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
LIST OF TABLE viii
LIST OF FIGURES ix
ABSTRACT x
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION 1
Statement of Problem 4
Objectives 5
Significance of the Study 5
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 THE CONCEPT OF FOOD SECURITY 7
2.1.1 The Origin of Food Security 8
2.1.2 Community Food Security Concept 10
2.2 WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FOOD INSECURE 16
2.2.1 Causes of Food Insecurity 20
2.2.2 Effects of Food Insecurity 22
2.3 FOOD COPING STRATEGY CONCEPT 23
2.4 FOOD SECURITY MEASUREMENT: THE FOCUS ON CHRONIC
HUNGER AND POVERTY 25
2.4.1 Approaches to Measurement of Food Security 26
2.5 FOOD ECONOMY APPROACH 28
2.5.1 Dietary Diversity 28
2.5.2 The Food Security Module 29
2.6 DETERMINANTS OF FOOD SECURITY 29
2.7 AN OVERVIEW OF THE FOOD SITUATION IN NIGERIA:
CURRENT LEVEL OF FOOD SECURITY IN RURAL AREAS 33
2.7.1 Food Consumption in Nigeria 34
2.8 SOURCES OF FOOD 37
2.9. PREVALENCE OF CHILDHOOD MALNUTRITION 37
2.10 ANTHROPOMETRY 38
2.10.1 Height for Age 39
2.10.2 Weight for Age 39
2.10.3 Weight for Height 40
CHAPTER 3
MATERIALS AND METHODS
3.1 STUDY DESIGN 41
3.2 AREA OF STUDY 41
3.3 POPULATION OF THE STUDY 41
3.4 SAMPLING AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES 41
3.4.1 Sample Size 42
3.4.2 Sampling Procedure 42
PRELIMINARY ACTIVITIES 43
Preliminary Visits 43
Training Of Research Assistants 43
DATA COLLECTION 43
Questionnaire Administration 43
Interview 43
Anthropometric Measurements 43
Food Record 44
Snacks/Meal And Food Consumption Pattern 44
DATA ANALYSIS 44
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS 44
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS 46
4.1.1 Characteristics of the Children 46
4.1.2 Socio-economic Characteristics of the Parents 47
4.2 FOOD SECURITRY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHILDREN. 48
4.2.1 Food Record of the Children 49
4.2.2 Children’s Response to Food Security Items 52
4.2.3 Food Rating by the Children 56
4.2.4 Food Security Status of the children 58
4.3 ANTHROPOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHILDREN 60
4.3.1 Weight for age status of the children 60
4.3.2 Height for Age Status of the Children. 62
4.3.3 Body Mass Index (BMI) for Age Status of the Children. 64
4.4 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOOD SECURITY STATUS AND
ANTHROPOMETRIC STATUS 66
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
5.1 Conclusion 68
5.2 Recommendations 68
REFERENCES 69
Appendix 76
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Characteristics of the Children Studied 46
Table 4.2: Socio- economic Characteristics of the Parents 48
Table 4.3: Food Record of the Child 50
Table 4.4: Children’s Response to Food Security Items 53
Table 4.5: Food Rating by the Children 57
Table 4.6: Food security status of the children 59
Table 4.7: Weight for Age Status of the Children by sex and age 61
Table 4.8: Height for age status of the children by sex and age. 63
Table 4.9: BMI for age status of the children by sex and age 65
Table 4.10: Correlation between food insecurity and anthropometric status. 67
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1: Food Security Model 15
Figure 1.2: Campbell’s Conceptual Framework for Food Insecurity, its Risk Factors, and Consequences 17
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Some six million children die each year from malnutrition and approximately one-third of all children in developing countries are stunted and/or overweight (Food and Agriculture Organization FAO, 2006). Children stunted at school-age are likely to have been exposed to poor nutrition since early childhood and the degree of stunting tends to increase throughout the school-age years under-weight among school-age children like stunting can reflect a broad range of problems such as prenatal under-nutrition, deficiency of macro and micro nutrients, infection and possibly, inadequate attention by care givers. School-aged children are one of the most accessible population groups form a public health prospective because they gather almost on daily basis, supervised by trained workforce of teachers and can benefit considerably from nutrition and health interventions (Bundy et al., 1998).
Food insecurity influences child health and development through its effect on nutrition and because of the additional stress it creates on families (Cook and Frank, 2008). It affects all aspects of physical, mental, and psychosocial health and is a key factor in low birth weight, stunted growth, being underweight for age or height, chronic poor health, more admissions to hospital, and poor cognitive development (Kristjansson et al., 2007;Cook and Frank, 2008). Food insecure children who are iron deficient in early life are likely to have cognitive, attention, and behavioural deficits that persist even after treatment (Cook and Frank, 2008).
Children belonging to 6-12years age group are vulnerable because of their rapid growth rate. They need more attention and care for the physical, mental development and physical growth; development and well-being are directly related to the nutritional status. Chronic under-nutrition is considered to be the primary cause of ill-health and premature mortality among children in developing countries (Nondy et al., 2005). Some of the major nutritional disorders facing school-age children include stunting, under-weight, anaemia, iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) and vitamin A deficiency (SCN, 2002).
The prevalence of under-nutrition, particularly stunting is higher than under-weight as reported by Daniel et al. (2011) on nutritional status of pre-adolescents school children stratified by gender in Makurdi. Onila et al. (2007) in their work on comparative study of nutritional status of urban and rural Nigerian school children in Ife Central Local Government Area (L.G.A) found out that malnutrition (underweight wasting and stunting) constituted major health problems among school children in Nigeria, particularly in the rural area. A study on the evaluation of the of the nutritional status of primary (one) pupils in Abeokuta south Local Government Area of Ogun state revealed that pupils studied were considered to be 51.7%, 48.6% and 1.3% stunted, wasted and overweight respectively. (Olusoga, 2008). Although there may be other causative factors of the problem of malnutrition in Nigeria, Dietary intake resulting from continued deterioration of living standard is a major factor (Olusoga, 2008). The very low prevalence of overweight and obesity in Nigeria when compared with children in developed countries could be that unlike in most Western countries, the children have limited access to high-calorie snacks and fast food which are hardly affordable. Another plausible fact is that the Nigeria children may have been engaged in more physically demanding activities compared to their contemporaries in other counties (Daniel et al., 2011).
Food security is defined as access by all people at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life, it is one of the major factors necessary for household members, and particularly children to be healthy and well nourished (Nord et al., 2008). Food which is one of the most basic needs and necessity for human survival is achieved through qualitative feeding practices. The feeding practices and access to the appropriate quality and quantity of foods are essential components of optimal nutrition for young children. (Lutter and Rivera, 2003).
Food security also refers to the availability of food and one’s access to it. A household is considered food secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation (FAO, 2001).Food security exists when all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and Nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life, (Idachaba, 2006). Food security includes a minimum of
Availability of nutritional, adequate and safe foods and
An assured ability to require acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways, that is without resorting to emergency food supplies, Scavenging, Stealing or other cropping strategies (USDA, 2008).
Food insecurity in turn refers to limited or uncertain physical and economical access to secure sufficient quantities of nutritionally adequate and safe foods in socially acceptable ways to allow household members to sustain active and healthy living (FAO, 1996; Wolfe and Fronsillo, 2001; Gates et al., 2006) and adequate utilization of these foods by household members. Food insecurity can negatively affect the food consumption including reduced dietary variety, nutrient intake, nutritional status of household members as well as their anthropometric status.
Household Food Insecurity (HHFI) causes hunger and malnutrition in most countries, including Nigeria (FAO, 1997a; FAO, 1997c). Household Food Insecurity also influences health and nutritional status of children (Cook et al., 2004; Matheson et al., 2004). It has been implicated as the main factors causing poor feeding practices and protein energy among children (Sanusi et al., 2006; Kuntal et al., 2008). For example children in low income, food-insecure households had significant decreases in energy intake and meat consumption Matheson et al. (2002) and consumed fewer carbohydrate and fruits and less total energy (Casey et al., 2001) than children in food-secure households. In view of this, the study is aimed at determining the prevalence of food insecurity and anthropometric status among school-, age children in Umuahia North LGA, Abia-state, Nigeria.
Statement of Problem
Food insecurity is one of the factors that predispose an individual to malnutrition. Several studies have shown that food insecure households are more likely to have malnourished children. Alaimo et al. (2001) and Osei et al. (2010) reported that household food insecurity was strongly and negatively associated with dietary intake, anthropometric status and learning ability of children. Household food insecurity has been associated with several health and nutrition outcomes, in both developed and developing countries, by negatively affecting food consumption, either through reduce quality or quantity of food, household food insecurity can potentially worsen nutritional status (Gundersen et al., 2009). According to statistics more than half of Nigerian population, especially women and children live in severe social deprivation, and many household are food insecure (Akinyele, 2009). The FAO, The state of food insecurity in the world SOFI, (2002) enlisted Nigeria as a country among other countries face in serious insecurity problem and her positions among the most failed countries in last few years stood as follows in (2005) it was 54th, (2006) 22nd, (2007) 17th, (2008) 18th, (2009) 15th and (2010) 13th (Abdullahi et al., 2010; Adebayo, 2011). Studies have shown that malnutrition is high in rural Nigeria, the figures differ with geopolitical zones, with 56% reported in a rural area of south west and 84.3% in three rural communities in the northern part of Nigeria (Okwu et al., 2008; Oluwatayo, 2008). According to Senbanjo et al.(2009), influence of socio-economic factors on nutritional status of children in a rural community of Osun state revealed that the overall prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight are 37%,18%, 29% respectively ( Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey NDHS, 2013). According to Akinyele, (2009), most of the programmes setup by the government in focusing on food and nutrition security have not realised self-sufficiency neither did it reduce malnutrition, also despite advocacy for health and nutrition services, there is a clear lack of data on the actual nutritional status of children in this age group in developing countries, most research focuses on malnutrition in young children under 5years of age, whereas school aged children are often omitted from health and nutrition surveys or surveillance. In view of the food shortages that are being experienced in many homes in Nigeria FAO, (1997a), the study is aimed at evaluating the prevalence of food insecurity and anthropometric status among Nigerian children.
1.2 Objectives of the Study
The general objective of this study is to access the food security level and anthropometric status of primary school aged children in selected rural communities in Umuahia North LGA, Abia State, Nigeria.
The specific objectives includes to:
Determine the socio-economic background of primary school aged children (6-12years) and their parents in selected rural communities in Umuahia North LGA.
Access the food security status of primary school aged children
(With an interview administered questionnaire)
1.3 Significance of the Study
The findings of this study will go a long way to help the public to know more about nutritional needs of primary school children. They have to be taken care of nutritionally, because at this stage of their life, children need adequate nutrition for optimum health. Lack of adequate nutrition at this stage will affect their health and mental development.
The findings of this study would be of enormous significance to policy makers in Nigeria, health workers, Non-governmental Organizations and groups who are interested in the welfare of school children, especially those in rural communities.
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