ABSTRACT

Household food and nutrition security depends on access to and availability of food, in terms of financial, physical, and social aspects, followed by proper utilization of the food through food hygiene and health care. This study was designed to assess the food and nutrition security status of households in Aba metropolis. Four hundred households were randomly selected. Anthropometric measurements (weight and height) were used to classify the body mass index of respondents. Data collected was subjected to analysis with the use of Statistical Product Service Solution (SPSS) version 20 using descriptive statistics. Results revealed that there were more females (69.0%) than  males (31.0%). Most of the respondents (62.5%) ranged between 40-59years, while 26.5% and 11.0% ranged between 20-39 and 60years and above, respectively. Most of the respondents (71.3%) were married, while 19.3% of the respondents were single. The respondents were mostly (59.8%) mothers. The majority of  the respondents (98.0%) were Christians. The result on their educational status further revealed that most  (59.8%)of the respondents had only secondary qualification. Most  (64.8%) of the respondents were traders. 40.3%  spent between  #41-60,000  monthly on food. Household food security status was assessed using  the Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence Status Indicator (HFIAP). It was observed that most 58.0% of the respondents were food secure, 30.5% of the respondents were food insecure with hunger, 9.8% were food insecure with moderate hunger, while only a few 1.8% were food insecure with severe hunger. Results on nutrition security status of respondents showed that majority of the respondents were nutrition insecure (mild - 49.0%; moderate -16.3%) while some of them were found to be nutrition secure. Furthermore, most (66.5%) of the respondents had  normal body mass index,  more than a quarter (29.0%) of them had high BMI status (overweight and obesity) and only a few of them (4.5%) were underweight. Among the households in Aba metropolis, the Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence Status Indicator (HFIAPSI)  shows that most of the households were food secure and the results from the nutrition security status showed that most households were nutrition insecure.