Abstract:Organizations measure household food insecurity for program design, planning, targeting, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, but existing measures often are inadequate. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to develop and validate an experienced-based measure of the access component of food insecurity in northern Burkina Faso. In-depth interviews on food insecurity were done with 10 household heads and 26 women using interview guides. We identified themes, classified households, created a tabl… Show more
“…35 The HFIAS was initially developed by Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) project based on validation studies in eight countries including the US. 44,45 Validation studies have demonstrated that the HFIAS distinguishes food-secure from -insecure individuals or households across different cultural contexts. The questions cover three domains of the experience of food insecurity: (1) anxiety and uncertainty about food supply, (2) insufficient quality and variety of food, and (3) insufficient food intake and its physical consequences.…”
“…35 The HFIAS was initially developed by Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) project based on validation studies in eight countries including the US. 44,45 Validation studies have demonstrated that the HFIAS distinguishes food-secure from -insecure individuals or households across different cultural contexts. The questions cover three domains of the experience of food insecurity: (1) anxiety and uncertainty about food supply, (2) insufficient quality and variety of food, and (3) insufficient food intake and its physical consequences.…”
“…Household level food insecurity is measured with a six item scale that was adapted from published food insecurity scales used in developing countries (Coates, Frongillo, Rogers, Webb, Wilde, & Houser, 2006;Frongillo & Nanama, 2006;Melgar-Quinonez, et al, 2006;. The items were included after much discussion with the interviewing team and pilot testing and reflect what appear to be universal expressions of food insecurity .…”
“…These studies use food insecurity scales which capture several dimensions of food insecurity including worry over the adequacy of the food supply, concern about the quality of the food supply, and changes in eating patterns in response to food shortages. Results from a number of developing country studies indicate that these qualitative self-assessments provide valid indicators of food insecurity (Frongillo & Nanama, 2006;Melgar-Quinonez, Zubieta, MkNelly, Nteziyaremye, Gerardo, & Dunford, 2006;.…”
Food insecurity is a pressing public health concern in many developing countries. Despite widespread interest in the sociocultural determinants of food insecurity, little is known about whether youths living in food insecure households experience food insecurity. The buffering hypothesis reviewed here assumes that, to the extent possible, adult members of households will buffer younger household members from the ill effects of food insecurity. A variant of the buffering hypothesis argues that only certain members of the households will enjoy the benefits of buffering. We hypothesize that within the context of Ethiopia, where girls have historically experienced discrimination, buffering is preferentially aimed at boys, especially as the household experiences greater levels of food stress. These hypotheses are tested using data from a population-based study of 2084 adolescents living in southwestern Ethiopia. Results indicate that boys and girls were equally likely to be living in severely food insecure households. Despite no differences in their households' food insecurity status, girls were more likely than boys to report being food insecure themselves. This gender difference was the largest in severely food insecure households. This same pattern was observed when comparing malefemale sibling pairs living in the same household. These results are among the first to show that household level measures of food insecurity predict adolescent experiences of food insecurity, and that in the Ethiopian socio-cultural context, the relationship between household level food insecurity and adolescent food insecurity varies by gender. We also show that adolescent food insecurity is strongly associated with measures of general health and well-being.
“…In developing a tool to measure household food insecurity across countries and cultures, researchers have most often either adapted a version of the Cornell/Radimer measuring tool, which was initially developed for use in the USA, or developed a tool based on research on how households experience food insecurity in various countries and geographical areas (5) . Both methods have produced valid or accurate measurements (6)(7)(8) .…”
Objective: The purpose of the present study was to test the construct validity, internal consistency and convergent validity of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) in measuring household food insecurity in rural Tanzania, and to determine socio-economic characteristics associated with household food insecurity. Design: Key informant interviews and a cross-sectional survey were conducted in February and March 2008. Setting: Rural Iringa, Tanzania. Subjects: Key informant interviews were conducted with twenty-one purposively selected male and female village leaders. For the household surveys, a sample of 237 households with mothers (caregivers) and at least one child between 1 and 5 years of age were included.Results: Approximately 20?7 % of the households were categorized as foodsecure, 8?4 % as mildly food-insecure, 22?8 % as moderately food-secure and 48?1 % as severely food-insecure. Two main factors emerged from the rotated principal component factor analysis: (i) insufficient food quality; and (ii) insufficient food intake. Both factors explained 69 % of the total variance. The full food insecurity scale and the two subscales had good internal consistency (Cronbach's a 5 0?83-0?90). Food security, as measured by HFIAS, was positively associated with maternal education, husband's education, household wealth status, being of an agricultural rather than pastoral tribe and animal-source food consumption; it was negatively associated with maternal age and household size. Conclusions: The HFIAS measurement instrument shows validity and reliability in measuring household food insecurity among poor households in rural Tanzania.
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