Investigation of nutritional status and food security in 6-to-59-month-old children and its relationship with socioeconomic factors in Mahdi Abad district in Shiraz, Iran, in 2018

Abstract

Introduction: Food insecurity has been the major public health problem during the two past decades attracted the attention of population,scientists and policy makers. Regarding energy efficiency, 20% and 23/2% of households had food insecurity during 1996 and 2001 in Iran, respectively. Food insecurity is defined as "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable food in socially acceptable ways". Since now food insecurity has not been assessed directly in national, state or country levels. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of food insecurity as well as some other variables among families with children within the age range of 6-59 months living in the Mahdi Abad district of Shiraz, Iran. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in an informal setting, namely Mahdi Abad of Shiraz. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 353 households in the Mahdi Abad using simple random sampling technique. A demographic questionnaire was utilized to analyze the population as well as the social and economic status of the households. Moreover, the food security status of the participants were measured by the USDA household food security questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed using the Chi-square test and one-way ANOVA. Results: The prevalence of the household food insecurity was 74/5%. Food insecurity was significantly associated with wasting, overweight, underweight, and obesity (P<0.001). There was no significant relationship between food insecurity and stunting (P=0.04). The obtained results showed that food insecurity had a significant correlation with the level of education, occupational status of the breadwinner, and housing ownership status (P<0.001). Conclusion: The investigated population suffered from food insecurity and showed a significant positive correlation with some factors, such as the occupational status of the breadwinner and housing ownership. Moreover, the number of underweight, overweight, and obese children was also higher in the food insecurity group. Therefore, the prevalence of food insecurity can be diminished by improving the household facilities in Mahdi Abad.