Household food security in an urban slum: Determinants and trends

Abstract

Introduction:As we are moving from millennium development goals to sustainable development goals, food insecurity is imposing a formidable challenge to the policymakers, especially in developing countries such as India. A survey conducted in the urban slum areas of Vellore district, 6 years back, had reported food insecurity as high as 75%. The current study was a resurvey to assess the food security status in the aforementioned area.Materials and Methods:A community-based survey was conducted in which data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire from 150 households, selected through multistaged cluster sampling, who had given oral consent to be a part of the survey. The prevalence of food security calculated from this study was compared with the results from a previous survey to look for any significant improvement.Results:Nearly 42.7% of the households were food secure, while 26.7% were food insecure without hunger and 30.6% were food insecure with some degree of hunger. Low socioeconomic status (odds ratio [OR]: 3.25, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.29–8.16; P < 0.012) and presence of debt (OR: 3.84, 95% CI: 1.90–7.73; P < 0.001) were the major risk factors for food insecurity. A comparison with the findings from the previous study has shown a statistically significant improvement in food security from 25.4% to 42.7% (Chi-square: 27.072, df: 2, P < 0.0001).Conclusion:Although food security levels have shown marked improvement over the years, much needs to be done for India to be free from the shackles of hunger.

Burden of household food insecurity in urban slum settings

“…However, food insecurity prevalence was lower in the present study compared with similar developing countries such as Iran (59.1%) and the Philippines (65%) [10]. Correlates of food insecurity identified in our study were consistent with existing literature—showing that being female, having less than a high school education, working for fewer hours, and having large family sizes were predictors of food insecurity [10, 22].…”

“…Likewise, study participants reporting that their employment needs were met, were also likely to be food insecure, although this was not significant in the multivariable analysis (OR = 1.134, 95% CI: 0.592, 2.172, p = 0.726). Prior studies have shown that employment-related food insecurity among the urban poor has a lot to do with the patterns of employment amongst urban poor slum dwellers [10, 22–24]. The finding that study participants with partially and fully met employment needs were likely to be food insecure suggests that being employed may not be fully reflective of income capacity.…”

“…The finding that study participants with partially and fully met employment needs were likely to be food insecure suggests that being employed may not be fully reflective of income capacity. Household income has been identified as an important factor that determines household access to food [10]. This, in turn is dependent on access to remunerative employment [10].…”

“…Consequently, India will face tremendous challenges in meeting the basic needs of its growing urban dwellers, including infrastructure, transportation, housing, energy, employment, education, healthcare, and food security [1]. Rapid proliferation in India’s urban slum population, alongside its marginalized workforce with predominantly casual or contract employment, constitute a food and nutrition emergency in urban India [6–10]. India performed poorly on the Global Hunger Index, a standardized tool reflecting severity in hunger levels by drawing on indicators of undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting and child mortality [11].…”

“…Household food insecurity has resulted in a variety of ill effects including psychosocial dysfunction in children, socio-familial problems and overall poor health status [12]. Urban food insecurity requires critical attention since an important component of urbanisation is the proliferation of slums caused by the unplanned migration of the rural poor to urban areas in search of better livelihoods [10, 13].…”