Household Food Security is associated with Stunting among Preschool Children in Occidental Mindoro

Abstract

Background and Objective: Food security is achieved when the population at all times has access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food to sustain a healthy and active life. This study aimed to determine significant association between household food security and stunting among preschool children in Occidental Mindoro. Specifically, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of stunting among preschool children and household food security in the study area.
Methods: This study utilized cross- sectional study design and a three level multi- stage, stratified random sampling to answer the study objectives. A total of 480 preschool children (n=240 urban; n= 240 rural) were included in the study. Radimer-Cornell Tool was used to determine the food security status of the household. A validated- constructed questionnaire was used to determine other factors which were controlled in this study. Multiple Logistic Regression was used to determine significant association between the exposure and the outcome variable while controlling confounding variable simultaneously.
Results and Discussion: Result of this study revealed that the prevalence of food insecurity in the province was 51. 04% (95% CI: 46.55, 55.53) while prevalence of stunting was 36.04% (95%CI: 31.73, 40.35). Meanwhile, after controlling the confounding effect of household income and low dietary diversity score it was found that the odds of having a stunted child were 23 times higher among food insecure households (OR: 23.00, 95%CI: 12.05, 43.91).
Conclusion: Based from the result of this study, magnitude of household food insecurity and stunting were found to be very high in the study areas. There was a significant association between household food security and stunting among preschool children.