Household food insecurity and coping strategies among pensioners in Jimma Town, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundEthiopia is currently facing new challenges related to food insecurity among the urban poor. Pensioners are segments of the population with reduced income and working capacity because of advancement of age and other related problems. There is no empirical evidence on Jimma Town pensioner’s household food insecurity and coping strategies.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among households in Jimma Town living on an income obtained from a pension from March 01–28, 2017. Data were collected from 399 randomly selected participants. Data were entered into EPi-Data version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS Version 20.0. Variables with p ≤ 0.25 in the bivariate analyses were entered into a multivariable regression model to control for confounding variables.ResultsNearly, 83.5% of households were food insecure. The odds of food insecurity among households with heads attending secondary school and above was 78% lower when compared to that of households with uneducated household heads (AOR = 0.22, 95% CI: 0.97 to 0.49). The odds of food insecurity among households headed by merchants was 91% lower when compared to that of households headed by guards (AOR = 0.09, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.29). Food insecure households were using coping strategies such as changing consumption patterns (44%), eating inexpensive foods (72.4%), reducing meal frequency (62.4%) and selling household assets, such as household food utensils (30.8%). The odds of food insecurity among households having large family size (≥ 7) was 3.74 times higher when compared to that of households with family size less than three (AOR = 3.74(1.27, 10.99).ConclusionsHousehold food insecurity was associated with having households headed by uneducated, widowed and guard household heads and having large family size. Food insecure households used both consumption and asset-based coping strategies such as eating less preferred, lower quality or less expensive foods and receiving donation from relatives or friends. Government policies should consider revising the current social protection scheme for pensioners. Special attention should be given to widow pensioners and pensioners with low educational status and with large family sizes.

Household Food Insecurity, Coping Strategies and Child Dietary Diversity (24-59 months) in Ibadan, Nigeria

“…In response to HFI, households resorted to a number of coping strategies, with the consumption of less expensive foods being the most frequently used strategy which is consistent with findings from Ethiopia, Lao PDR, and Nigeria (Adebayo and Abegunrin 2013, Asesefa Kisi et al 2018, Broz 2014. This is most likely due to the inflation of prices of food during the period of data collection.…”

“…Other coping strategies used by our sample women are shown in Figure 1B. Other studies have documented the following strategies: borrowing food or money to buy food, selling productive assets like livestock, reducing quantity and frequency of meal, purchase food on credit, getting help from relatives, working in exchange for food and selling of assets in exchange of food, eating less (and less nutritious) meals, sticking to a budget, maintain a food garden, send household members to eat elsewhere, send households members to beg, gather wild food, buying necessities only, eating less preferred meals, mothers giving up their meals for the children, skipping meals, going a whole day without food (FAO 2015, Asesefa Kisi et al 2018, Oldewage-Theron, Dicks, and Napier 2006, Broz 2014, Kruger, Schönfeldt, and Owen 2008, Maxwell 1996, McCarthy, Chang, and Brimblecombe 2018, Tsegaye et al 2018.…”

A Food Insecurity Systematic Review: Experience from Malaysia

“…Examples of emotion-focused coping included aspirational (having faith that good fortune will prevail), resignation (isolation from receiving help), distraction (mind tricks), and anger/violence (frustration). Such behaviours were practiced consistently by food-insecure household globally, for example as reported by in Kisi et al [ 162 ] from Ethiopia, Ghimire [ 163 ] from Nepal, Rukundo, Oshaug, Andreassen, and Kikafunda [ 164 ] from Uganda, and Mabuza, Ortmann, and Wale [ 165 ] from Swaziland.…”

Seasonal Variation of Household Food Insecurity and Household Dietary Diversity on Wasting and Stunting among Young Children in A Drought Prone Area in South Ethiopia: A Cohort Study

“…The possible reason for the constant trend of wasting and stunting in Ethiopia could be due to persistent low socio-economic status of the country (UNDP 2019) and inequalities between rural and urban (Tranvåg, Ali, and Norheim 2013) Regarding household food insecurity, more than two thirds of households had manifested food insecurity in all seasons. Similarly, cross-sectional studies conducted in Boricha in 2012 (Regassa and Stoecker 2012) and elsewhere in South Ethiopia (Asesefa Kisi et al 2018;Betebo et al 2017;Hagos et al 2015) had high prevalence rates of food insecurity. Moreover, our finding was higher than the national survey (35% of household food insecurity) (Humphries et al 2015).…”