Objective: To identify the factors associated with food insecurity among Quilombolas communities in Brazil. Design: An analysis of secondary data assessed in the 2011 Quilombolas Census was performed. The Brazilian Food Insecurity Measurement Scale (Escala Brasileira de Insegurança Alimentar, EBIA) was used to assess household food security status. Sociodemographic conditions and access to social programmes and benefits were also evaluated. Setting: National survey census from recognized Quilombolas Brazilian territories. Subjects: Quilombolas households (n 8846). Results: About half (47·8 %) of the Quilombolas lived in severely food-insecure households, with the North and Northeast regions facing the most critical situation. Households located in North Brazil, whose head of the family had less than 4 years of education, with a monthly per capita income below $US 44, without adequate sanitation and without adequate water supply had the greatest chance of experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity. Households that had access to a water supply programme for dry regions (Programa Cisternas) and an agricultural harvest subsidy programme (Programa Garantia Safra) had less chance of experiencing moderate and severe food insecurity. Households that did not have access to health care (Programa Saúde da Família) had greater chance of suffering from moderate or severe food insecurity. Conclusions: Interventions are urgently needed to strengthen and promote public policies aimed to improve living conditions and food security in Quilombolas communities. Keywords Food security Household food insecurity Quilombolas Social vulnerability Epidemiological surveysFood and nutrition security is the guaranteed right for all to have access to safe, healthy and nutritious foods in adequate amounts, respecting cultural and social preferences (1,2) . The violation of this leads to household food insecurity (HFI), which can range from mild (concerns with food shortage and poor quality of foods due lack of money) to severe (occurrence of hunger) (3) . In Brazil, HFI is measured by national surveys using the Brazilian Food Insecurity Measurement Scale (Escala Brasileira de Insegurança Alimentar, EBIA) (3) . Since 2004 Brazil has generated data on household food security from three National Household Representative Surveys (4) . Analyses of these data have identified black or brown skin colour, low income and education, and poor health as risk factors for HFI (3,4) .In 2004 the prevalence of food insecurity among black and brown individuals was 43·4 % compared with 24·6 % among whites. Between 2004 and 2013 this prevalence decreased but still remained higher among black and brown individuals than whites (33·4 v. 17·2 %, respectively). In 2013 over half (50·7 %) of the Brazilian population self-identified as having black or brown skin (5) , a characteristic associated with illiteracy and low income. Specifically, illiteracy was 11·8 % among black and brown individuals and 5·3 % among whites; furthermore, 14·1 % of the black and ...

The Nurturing Care Framework (NCF) calls for establishing a global monitoring and accountability systems for early childhood development (ECD). Major gaps to build low‐cost and large‐scale ECD monitoring systems at the local level remain. In this manuscript, we describe the process of selecting nurturing care indicators at the municipal level from existing routine information systems to develop the Brazilian Early Childhood Friendly Index (IMAPI). Three methodological steps developed through a participatory decision‐making process were followed. First, a literature review identified potential indicators to translate the NCF domains. Four technical panels composed of stakeholders from federal, state and municipal levels were consulted to identify data sources, their availability at the municipal level and the strengths and weakness of each potential indicator. Second, national and international ECD experts participated in two surveys to score, following a SMART approach, the expected performance of each nurturing care indicator. This information was used to develop analytical weights for each indicator. Third, informed by strengths and weaknesses pointed out in the previous steps, the IMAPI team reached consensus on 31 nurturing care indicators across the five NCF domains (Good health [n = 14], Adequate nutrition [4], Responsive caregiving [1], Opportunities for early learning [7] and Security and safety [4]). IMAPI represents the first attempt to select nurturing care indicators at the municipal level using data from existing routine information systems.

ObjetivoVerificar se existem diferenças no consumo de alimentos regionais entre adolescentes em situação de insegurança alimentar quando comparados aos seguros. MétodosEstudo transversal realizado com adolescentes estudantes do 9º ano das 26 capitais brasileiras e Distrito Federal em 2011/2012. A amostra foi composta por 15.084 jovens. O consumo de alimentos regionais foi avaliado por meio de imagens. O participante deveria identificar o alimento, referindo seu consumo ou não. A situação de segurança alimentar foi aferida através da Escala Curta de Insegurança Alimentar, adaptada da escala americana e validada para o público adolescente brasileiro. ResultadosForam analisados os dados de 14.690 adolescentes com média de idade de 14,4 anos, predominantemente do sexo feminino (55,7%) e alunos de escolas públicas (78,2%). Apenas 3,1% das mães eram analfabetas. A insegurança alimentar foi mais prevalente nos domicílios com jovens do sexo masculino, que estudavam em escolas púbicas, filhos de mães analfabetas e residentes na região Norte. O consumo de hortaliças e frutas foi maior entre adolescente residentes em domicílios em insegurança alimentar e insegurança alimentar grave do que entre os seguros, em todas as regiões geográficas brasileiras. As preparações regionais são mais consumidas por jovens que vivem em domicílios seguros.

Os objetivos do trabalho foram avaliar a validade interna e a capacidade preditiva da escala de segurança alimentar de seis itens aplicada a adolescentes. MétodosFoi um estudo transversal com amostra representativa de adolescentes brasileiros (N=14.690), realizado em escolas públicas e privadas nas 26 capitais de estados brasileiros e no Distrito Federal por meio de questionário online. ResultadosA maior parte dos respondentes era do sexo feminino (53,2%), com idade média de 14,4 anos, sendo 72,7% de escolas públicas. O comportamento da escala, observado pelo modelo de Rasch, foi melhor sem o item cinco, apresentando valores ótimos de Infit e nível de severidade crescente entre os itens. O alfa de Cronbach foi 0,77, e as análises do funcionamento diferencial dos itens mostraram comportamento dos itens semelhante entre os subgrupos avaliados. A análise fatorial mostrou a unidimensionalidade do instrumento.

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O objetivo do estudo foi verificar o nível de Insegurança Alimentar (IA) entre frequentadores dos Restaurantes Comunitários do Distrito Federal (DF) e suas variáveis associadas, além de observar a focalização desta estratégia contribuindo para o planejamento das ações e políticas públicas. Foi realizado nos 11 Restaurantes Comunitários no DF em 2011. O tamanho da amostra representativa dessa população foi calculado em 610 indivíduos. Os instrumentos utilizados foram a Escala Brasileira de Medida da Insegurança Alimentar e questões socioeconômicas e de percepção do estado de saúde. Observou-se predominância de indivíduos do sexo masculino, trabalhadores e grande parte dos entrevistados pertenciam à classe social C. A Insegurança Alimentar e Nutricional Leve foi verificada em 26,1%, Moderada em 11,7% e Grave em 6,7% dos domicílios dos entrevistados. As prevalências de IA (leve, moderada e grave), sobretudo a IA Grave estavam associadas significativamente a menor renda e escolaridade, participação em programa de transferência de renda, menor frequência nos restaurantes e menor número de refeições realizadas/dia. Verificaram-se altas prevalências de IA (leve, moderada e grave), especialmente a IA Grave no público estudado quando comparadas à situação do Brasil e do DF. O programa idealmente é destinado a indivíduos de baixa renda e famílias em risco de Insegurança Alimentar e Nutricional, porém, no DF grande parte dos frequentadores pertence à classe de rendimento médio.

Objectives Early inequities in Early Childhood Development (ECD) are linked to inequalities across the five regions and within the 5570 municipalities in Brazil. We aimed to operationalize an index (IMAPI) to assess and monitor the enabling environment for nurturing care at the regional and municipal level in Brazil using existing national databases. Methods We followed three steps to operationalize IMAPI. I) Selection of indicators. The literature review guided the identification of existing indicators to translate each domain of the Nurturing Care Framework (Good Health, Adequate Nutrition, Opportunities for Early Learning, Responsive Caregiving, and Safety and Protection). Subsequently, meetings with experts and key Brazilian stakeholders informed the identification and selection of existing data in the national databases. II) Consultation with experts. Weights for the selected indicators were defined through a process based on the SMART approach. III) Analyzing IMAPI. Statistical and machine learning methods were used to compute an overall IMAPI as well as an index for each nurturing care domain that ranges from 0 (lowest score) to 100 (highest score). Means were calculated for each region of Brazil-based on municipalities indexes. Results IMAPI summarizes a set of 29 indicators: good health (14 indicators), adequate nutrition (4), early learning (7), responsive caregiving (0), and security and safety (4). Adequate nutrition domain presented the lowest median indexes (ranging from 32 to 22) and it was one of the most challenging to get reliable indicators due to the low coverage of national nutritional databases. The biggest difference means (DM) between regions with the best and worst indexes were found for early learning (DM = 17, ranging), good health (DM = 15) and security and safety (DM = 11), respectively. Responsive caregiving indicators were not identified at the municipal level within the existing national databases. A final version of IMAPI for each of the 5570 Brazilian municipalities incorporating sensitive analysis is being tested. Conclusions IMAPI discriminates regional and municipal enabling and constraining environments to promote ECD in Brazil which can facilitate informed policy decisions to address early inequities. Funding Sources Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CNPq, FAPDF.