Food insecurity and intimate partner violence among married women in Nepal

Abstract

BackgroundIntimate Partner Violence (IPV) is an important public health concern globally, including in Nepal. Food insecurity (being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food) has been associated with IPV, but no known studies have explored this relationship in South Asia, or Nepal specifically. Women’s level of empowerment is an important factor to consider when understanding the relationship between food insecurity and IPV.MethodsUsing data from the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, we explore the relationship between different levels of food insecurity (none, mild, moderate, severe) and three types of IPV: physical, sexual and emotional. In a second set of models we adjust for indicators of women’s empowerment. We use multi-variable logistic regression to test for an association between these factors, adjusting for individual and household level demographic variables.FindingsAbout half of married women in our sample experience food insecurity and approximately 10% of women experienced each of the three different types of IPV in the past 12 months: emotional, sexual and physical. Food insecurity is significantly associated with increased odds of experiencing emotional (odds ratio OR = 1.75 95% confidence interval CI = 1.06-2.77 for severe food insecurity) or physical (OR = 2.48, 95% CI = 1.52-4.04 for severe food insecurity) IPV, but not sexual IPV, after adjusting for individual and household level demographic variables. After adjusting for empowerment related factors, this relationship still holds, although it is somewhat attenuated. Women’s level of household decision-making power is significantly associated with higher odds of emotional, sexual and physical IPV, and whether she lives with her in-laws is protective against emotional IPV.ConclusionsAmong married women in Nepal, being food insecure is associated with higher odds of some types of IPV, specifically emotional and physical IPV. Accounting for women’s level of empowerment explains some of the relationship between food insecurity and IPV. It is essential that interventions to prevent IPV address household stressors such as food insecurity among married, Nepalese women, perhaps through cross-sectoral approaches. Such structural interventions are likely to reduce IPV for married women across South Asia who live in a similar levels of gender discrimination and food insecurity.

Determining factors for the prevalence of anemia in women of reproductive age in Nepal: Evidence from recent national survey data

“…Women exposed to economically abusive intimate interpersonal violence appeared to have food insecurity [61]. A study conducted in Nepal showed that women living in food-insecure households are more likely to experience some forms of IPV [62]. Similarly, domestic violence was strongly linked to women’s inability to take a decision regarding the type and quantity of food [60].…”

COVID‐19 and maternal and child food and nutrition insecurity: a complex syndemic

“…HFI in early life has indeed been consistently associated with child internalization and externalization of problems, behavioural problems in school, and poor academic performance and intellectual outcomes once those children become school age (de Oliveira et al, 2020). HFI has also been associated with family chaos (Fiese, Gundersen, Koester, & Jones, 2016; Rosemond et al, 2019) and intimate partner violence (Diamond‐Smith, Conroy, Tsai, Nekkanti, & Weiser, 2019) and may be associated with suboptimal infant feeding practices, possibly related to perceived insufficient milk of food insecure women (Orr, Dachner, Frank, & Tarasuk, 2018; Webb‐Girard et al, 2012). HFI increases the risk of chronic undernutrition and infectious diseases in children, maternal anaemia, obesity (especially among adult women), and the development of noncommunicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes (FAO, 2019), which in turn are risk factors themselves for poorer prognosis in COVID‐19patients (Watanabe et al, 2020).…”

Drought and intimate partner violence towards women in 19 countries in sub-Saharan Africa during 2011-2018: A population-based study

“…Poverty, in turn, is associated with IPV [25][26][27]. These income and food production shocks may lead to food insecurity, which has been linked with IPV in several settings, including Nepal, the United States, Brazil, and Southern Africa [43][44][45][46][47]. Both food insecurity and poverty create risk for IPV through the pathway of stress [48,49], which results from hunger, worry about food access, and financial strain on the household.…”