Understanding the Link between Household Food Insecurity and Self-Rated Oral Health in Ghana

Abstract

There is increasing scholarly attention on the role of food insecurity on the health of older adults in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana. Yet, we know very little about the association between food insecurity and self-rated oral health. To address this void in the literature, this study uses a representative survey of adults aged 60 or older from three regions in Ghana to examine whether respondents who experienced household food insecurity rated their oral health as poor compared to their counterparts who did not. We found that 34% of respondents rated their oral health as poor, while 7%, 21%, and 36% experienced mild, moderate, and severe food insecurity, respectively. Moreover, the results from the logistic regression analysis showed that older adults who experienced mild (OR = 1.66, p < 0.05), moderate (OR = 2.06, p < 0.01), and severe (OR = 2.71, p < 0.01) food insecurity were more likely to self-rate their oral health as poor, compared to those who did not experience any type of food insecurity. Based on these findings, we discuss several implications for policymakers and directions for future research.

The Impact of Village Savings and Loan Associations as a Financial and Climate Resilience Strategy for Mitigating Food Insecurity in Northern Ghana

“…We coded it as follows: 0 = male head only, 1 = female head only, and 2 = joint decision making including all household members. In addition, we also combined participants' self-rated health responses into two categories, following the work of Amoak et al (2023): poor health (comprising "fair" and "poor") and good health (including "excellent", "very good", and "good"), which was coded as 0 = poor health and 1 = good health. Furthermore, we also considered the residential district of participants and coded it as follows: 0 = Nadowli-Kaleo, 1 = Wa East, and 2 = Wa West.…”

Understanding the association between unmet dental care needs and household food security status among older people in Ghana

“…Similarly, it is found in the United States that adults with low food security were more likely to have unmet dental care needs as compared to their counterparts with full food security [27]. In the Ghanaian context, Amoak et al [13] highlighted that older people who experienced severe food insecurity were more likely to rate their oral-health as poor, pointing to possible unmet dental needs. Although the association between dental care utilization and food security status is largely explored in high-income countries such as the United States and Canada, it is imperative that food insecurity as a potential barrier to meeting dental care needs may be extended to older people in the LMICs including Ghana.…”

“…Based on these findings, there are several policy implications. The literature highlights that food insecurity possibly makes it difficult for older people to spend scarce household resources on items that are often perceived to be less essential for survival including access to dental care services [13,27,28]. This possible mechanism may be useful for informing food-related policies to pay attention beyond nutritional values of food and introduce policy strategies that enable food-insecure households to flexibly allocate material resources, which may increase their chance of receiving required health care attention including dental care attention.…”

“…Similarly, poor self-reported oral health is more prevalent among older adults with food insecurity [12]. In Ghana, Amoak et al [13] find that older adults who report experiencing mild, moderate, and severe food insecurity are more likely to report poor oral health compared to those who were food secure. As food insecurity has been identified as a barrier to the utilization of health care services, it is concerning that older adults who experience food insecurity may be facing a unique barrier to dental care utilization in Ghana, despite their possible exposure to heightened oral health risks.…”

“…The oral health sector in Ghana is experiencing growth, but there is little investment in both private and public practice [13][14][15]. The sector's underdevelopment is evident in the low ratio of dental practitioners to patients, estimated at 1 in 104, 000 [16,17].…”