Factors associated with undernutrition & household food security (Findings from the PoSHAN Community Studies) Nutrition Innovation Lab Asia (Nepal) SWETHA MANOHAR JOHNS HOPKINS BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Nepal Google Images & CBS Nepal, 2012 1
PoSHAN Community Studies Agriculture to Nutrition Pathways P R O G R A M E X P O S U R E Dietary Intake & Nutrition & Health Outcomes of Women & Young Children to Household Food Availability, Access From Agriculture to Market/Home P O L I C Y E N V I R O N M E N T 2
Design & Methods Design Longitudinal, observational study Representative, annual panel surveys (21 sites) balanced across mountains, hills, flatlands) Conduct seasonal data collection in a nested sample (3 sites) Duration: 3 years (2013 2015) Eligible households (N=~5000): < 5 children, newly married women Major outcomes of interest: nutrition status, HH food security, dietary patterns Measurements Community: food prices, infrastructure Household: food security, income, expenditure, ag production & practices, program participation Individual: Dietary patterns, nutritional status, anemia status, access to health & nutrition services, morbidity, IYCF, family planning, knowledge of key health and nutrition messages Map of PoSHAN Study Sites Sentinel sites (n= 3 VDCs) 3
Undernutrition in Under Five Children 2013 % 2014 % Mountains Hills Terai Mountains Hills Terai (N=932) (N=1264) (N=3111) (N=826) (N=1307) (N=3276) Stunting* 37.1 36.2 34.8 39.1 36.9 37.2 Wasting* 8.3 10.8 23.3 7.28 8.79 21.56 Underweight* 26 29.1 39.1 25.7 27.1 39.8 * < 2 SD Under nutrition in under five children varies by age Wasting peaks to 30% @ 8-18 mo Stunting plateaus @>40% by end of 2 nd year SAM peaks to 4% @ 6-15 mo Klemm et al, unpublished 4
Under nutrition in under five children varies by age AND by agro ecology. Wasting 2x higher in the plains 50 45 40 35 30 25 Prevalence 20 15 10 5 0 5 Mountains Hills Terai Age, months Is Household Food Insecurity (HFI) associated with child undernutrition in 6 59.9 month olds in Nepal? 5
Sample characteristics: individual Child Characteristics (6 59.9 months) N= 4943 Age in months, mean (SD) 33.0 (15.6) Sex, % Male 52.6 Female 47.4 Child Dietary Diversity Score, mean (SD) 5.3 (1.7) Consumed > 4 food groups, % 71.8 Hemoglobin, g/dl, mean (SD) 10.5 (1.3) Acute Respiratory Illness 30 days, % 17.1 Diarrhea past 30 days, % 29.9 Mothers characteristics N= 4929 Age in years, mean (SD) 27.3 (6.7) Education, % No schooling (0 years) 58.4 Primary schooling (1 5 years) 12 High School/SLC (6 10 years) 21 College or higher (>10 years) 8.6 Short stature: <145 cm, % 11.9 Sample characteristics: household Household characteristics N=3665 Head of Household, % Male 72.4 Female 27.6 Household size, mean (SD) 5.8 (2.6) Wealth index, % Lowest quintile 21.1 Second quintile 20.5 Middle quintile 20.1 Fourth quintile 19.1 Highest quintile 19.1 Caste, % Brahmin or Chettri 24.7 Other terai 30 Caste, contd. [%] Dalit 17.4 Newar 2.2 Janjati 20.3 Others 5.4 Household Food Insecurity, % None 59.1 Mild 18.4 Moderate 16.2 Severe 6.3 Agro ecological Zone, % Mountains 18.4 Hills 26.1 Terai 55.5 6
Odds of stunting and wasting increases (but not consistently) as HFI increases Odds Ratio 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 * * * Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 Odds Ratio (Stunting) Odds Ratio (Wasting) Food Secure Mildly Food Insecure Moderately & severely food insecure Model 1 = Unadjusted Model 2 = Adjusted household size & region, maternal age & height, child age, sex, ARI, diarrhea * * P < 0.05 * N= 4493 Manohar et al. unpublished Prevalence of child stunting and recent history of diarrhea & ARI increase with severity of HFI % 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Stuntingǂ, % Wasting, % Consuming 4 food groupsǂ,% Diarrheaǂ,% (past 7 days) ARIǂ,% (past 7 days) 0 N= 2789 N= 901 N= 828 N= 333 None Mild Moderate Severe HFIAS 7
Coping strategies & social networks during times of food insecurity 60 Coping Strategies Social support available N= 4286 50 40 % 30 20 10 0 Take cash loan Take inkind loan Colect wild food Consume seed Sell assets Sell livestock No families 1 family 2 4 families >5 families Higher proportions of food and income stressed households take cash loans Severe 40 35 Household Food Insecurity Moderate Mild None % HHs taking loans 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 20 40 60 80 % HH taking cash loans Low Second Middle Fourth Highest Wealth Index 8
Reports of seasonal food insecurity by agro ecological zone Adapted from FAO 2007 PLANTING SEASON Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Paddy Hills X X X X Terai X X X X Maize Mtns X X Hills X X X X Terai X X X X Wheat Mtns X X Hills X X X Terai X X If you don t have food available at home, you need to buy it.what does that cost? And how does that differ based on where one lives? 9
How affordable the most nutritious diets that people are actually consuming vs. what they could consume? USD Cost of Diet Tool, SC Biehl, et. al, unpublished Key Messages TARGETTING MATTERS The burden of under nutrition, specifically wasting and underweight in underfive is children & HFI is significantly different across agro ecology. The most food and income stressed household are more likely to resort cash & in kind loans As HFI worsens, the odds of stunting and wasting increase As HFI worsens, child dietary diversity decreases creating access and promoting cheap, available and diverse diets during these time is important Even during leaner seasons, affordable nutritious diets are available for young children 10
Key Messages contd. This type of ongoing agriculture nutrition research system and infrastructure can provide insights on national trends in nutritional status, diet and food security and its relationship with nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive factors which can inform program and policies to retarget resources and bridge policy and programmatic gaps Acknowledgements Funding: through Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Nutrition Management Entity: Tufts University, Friedman School of Food Policy & Nutrition Co Investigators: Dr. Keith West, Dr. Rolf Klemm, Dr. Devendra Gauchan, Dr. Ramesh Adhikhari, Dr. Shibani Ghosh, Dr. Patrick Webb Data Collection & Human Resource Management: New Era Pvt. Ltd; NTAG; NNIPS PoSHAN JHU Technical Team: Ruchita Rajbhandary, Abhigyna Bhattarai, Dr. Raman Shrestha, Hari Krishna Shah, Dev Raj Gautam, Dev Mandal, Dr. Sudeep Shrestha PoSHAN Tufts Technical Team: Diplav Sapkota 11