ABSTRACT

Food security depends on access to and availability of food, in terms of financial, physical, and social aspects, followed by proper utilization of the food. The study was designed to determine the food security and anthropometric status of primary school children in selected rural communities in Umuahia North L.G.A in Abia state. A total of 240 respondents were selected using simple random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain information about the children studied. The questionnaire comprised of food security questionnaire (Modified from the USDA food security core-model), food records and socio- economic characteristics of the children and their parents. Anthropometric status of the children were assessed using the weight for age, height for age, and Body Mass Index for age indicators. The result revealed that were more males (52.9%) than female (47.1%) pupils. More than half (50.4%) of the children were between 8-10 years. The class range of the respondents involved in this study was between primary 1- primary 6 and majority of them were in primary 3 (27.1%) and primary 4 (32.9%). The result further revealed that most (47.9%) children lived with both parents. Occupational status of the respondent’s parents showed while majority of the respondents fathers were civil servants (32.5%), traders/business men (21.3%) and artisans (20.4%), their mothers were mainly farmers(29.6%) and civil servants (19.2%). Also quite a good number of the respondent’s fathers and mothers (27.5%, 23.3%) had received tertiary education. Results on food record of children showed that most children consumed their breakfast (84.6%), lunch (47.5%) and dinner (81.2%) meals at home. Breakfast (60.4%) and lunch (56.7%) and dinner (56.7%) meals were mostly prepared by their mothers. Results on the respondents food security status showed that (50.8%) of the respondents were food insecure with hunger, a quarter (25.8%) of the children were food insure without hunger. Extreme forms of food security status that some of them were either food secured (15.0%) or food insure with severe hunger (8.4%). Severe form of food insecurity status was found to be higher in the girls (14.2%) than boys (11.0%). Results on anthropometric status revealed that majority of the children had normal height for age (87.6%), weight for age (98.6%) and BMI for age (79.6%), while (1.2%) and (0.8%) were found to be underweight and stunted respectively. The prevalence of overweight and obesity were found to be (12.5%) and (2.4%) respectively. This result reflects the reality of double burden of malnutrition in this community. Correlation analysis revealed that a significant but negative correlation exists between being food insecure and having a lower BMI for age z score (r = -0.18, P >0.01). A balance in the care of the mother towards the child’s school going activities and her feeding practices will reduce the incidence of malnutrition.