Empowered women, social networks and the contribution of qualitative research: broadening our understanding of underlying causes for food and nutrition insecurity

Abstract

Objective: To investigate underlying causes for food and nutrition insecurity in black South African households and to gain understanding of the factors contributing to better nutrition security, with emphasis on household organisation, gender and intrahousehold dynamics and social networks. Design, setting and subjects: Within a larger cross-sectional survey that investigated the impact of urbanisation on the health of black South Africans, 166 people, mostly women, were interviewed on household food security. Methods used were structured face-to-face interviews, in-depth interviews, observation, interviews with key informants and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Information was collected from 1998 to 2000 in 15 rural and urban areas of the North West Province, South Africa. Results: Three-quarters of households in this sample are chronically food-insecure. Families are disrupted, due to migrant work, poverty and increasing societal violence, and half of households are female-headed. Certain categories of female-headed households and households based on partnership relationships, despite more limited resources, achieve a better or an equal economic status and better nutrition security than those households led by men, with the latter often being considered an economic liability. The reliance on and fostering of social ties and networks appear to be of central significance. Conclusion: Gender and intra-household relations, as well as social networks and income from informal sector activities, are often not uncovered by conventional statistical methods. Qualitative research can reveal the unexpected and furthermore empowers people, as their voices are heard.

The nutrition and health transition in the North West Province of South Africa: a review of the THUSA (Transition and Health during Urbanisation of South Africans) study

“…The subjects Table 1 shows that the sizes of the households on farms tended to be smaller (possibly because children were sent away to schools or families with food security) 4,24 . The majority of rural households had very low to low incomes while subjects from urban households reported moderate to high incomes (groups 4 and 5, 58.1 and 75.6%).…”

“…Other questionnaires. A number of validated structured and open-ended questionnaires were designed, validated and used to obtain information on household food security 24 , knowledge and attitudes towards obesity, reproductive behaviour, parity, breast-feeding 25 and colorectal cancer risk 26 in sub-samples.…”

Working to eat: Vulnerability, food insecurity, and obesity among migrant and seasonal farmworker families

“…Wirth et al [2007] found that income was the single greatest predictor of hunger and food insecurity, followed by migratory status. On the other hand, strong social support systems are protective against food insecurity [Lemke et al, 2003;Hadley and Sellen, 2006] and hunger [Martin et al, 2004].…”

Inverse association between social support and household food insecurity in a metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…A relatively unexplored aspect is the contribution of interpersonal relationships in this context. Some researchers have suggested that interpersonal and community-level social relationships, particularly the resources they provide, would help vulnerable people in handling this adverse condition (33)(34)(35)(36) .…”