Nutritional Status and Food Insecurity among the Children in Northern Sri Lanka

Consumption of adequate nutritious food is the most important element to ensure healthy living of children. The objective was to assess the nutritional status and food insecurity among the children aged 1-5 years in the Jaffna District. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. Height and weight were used to compute age and sex specific Z-scores for malnutrition. Food insecurity was assessed by cross-tabulating the Household Food Consumption Adequacy Score (HFCAS) and food access (assessed by food expenditure as a % of the total household expenditure), as specified by the World Food Program. The Socio-demographic factors and dietary pattern were obtained by using interviewer administered questionnaires. Sample size was 846 children [414 (49%) males]. The prevalence of wasting, underweight and stunting were 21.6 (n=184), 33.1 (n=282) and 26.4% (n=223) respectively. Among the subjects, 41.6 (n=351), 48.3 (n=408) and 10.1% (n=85) of children had good, average and poor food access respectively with a mean (±SD) of 75 (±13.6)%. The mean (±SD) HFCAS was 60.9 (±8.2) % with a range from 39 to 87% and all the children had adequate HFCAS (>35.1%). The mean HFCAS was significantly higher in urban children (67.5%) than in rural children (58.8%). Based on food access & HFCAS, food insecurity of Jaffna district was 10.1%. The prevalence of anaemia was 36.4% (n=308) and it was higher [44.7% (n=38)] in food insecure than in food secure households [35.5% (n=269)]. In this population, 27.2% of the children had protein deficiency (<3.5 g/dL) and it was observed as high (30.6%) among food unsecured children. Household income (p<0.001), expenditure for foods (p<0.05), and Hb concentration (p<0.05) were higher in food secure than in food insecure households. This study concludes that, the household food insecurity is prevalent and it was increased with income and expenditure for food in Jaffna district. Even though food insecurity was low in Jaffna it has a significant influence on undernutrition and anaemia in children.