Household food security and nutritional status of preschoolers in Valderrama, Antique

Abstract

The study is a cross-sectional survey of 138 randomly selected households from ten (10) similarly randomly-selected barangays in Valderrama, Antique. This study aims to determine household food security and nutritional status of pre-schoolers in Valderrama, Antique. The study specifically aimed to: determine the status of household food security in Valderrama, Antique; describe the characteristics of households in terms of Age and Highest Educational Attainment of Caretakers, Annual Family Income (in Pesos), Income Allotment for Food, House Ownership, Number of Household Members and Food Source; and compare the nutritional status of pre-schoolers of food secure and food insecure households based on the following anthropometric parameters: Weight for age (WFA), Height / length for age (H/LFA) and Weight for height (WFH). The study is patterned after the national survey done by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) that ranked Antique as the province with the highest degree of malnutrition. Food security was determined using the Food-Security/Hunger Core Module, 3-Stage Design, with Screeners. Anthropometric measurements were taken from randomly selected preschoolers aged 0-5 from each household to determine the nutritional status. The current study revealed that the prevalence of food insecurity in Valderrama, Antique is very high at 94.9%. The level of food insecurity was further determined and the following results were obtained: 17.6% of the food insecure households were without hunger; 56.5% were the food insecure households were without hunger; 56.5% were food insecure with moderate hunger, and, 26.0% were food insecure with severe hunger. Only 5.1% of the households surveyed were food secure. The results showed that in terms of the anthropometric parameters used in the study (Weight for Age, Height for Age, Weight for Height), all pre-schoolers in food secure households were normal. On the other hand, in food insecure households, the prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting were high. Using the parameter Weight-For-Age (WFA), the prevalence of underweight children was 38.2%, which is higher than the national average of 27.6%. Using the Height-for-Age (HFA), 43.5% of pre-schoolers in the area were stunted (underheight) and which is again higher than the national average of 38.5%. The prevalence of wasting in the study was alarmingly high (14.5%) which is almost three times higher than the national average of 5.5%.

The results obtained may be used as baseline data in planning intervention programs by the municipal government and concerned agencies (Government Organizations and Non-Government Organizations) to address the alarming problem of malnutrition in the municipality.