Socioeconomic inequalities in food insecurity and malnutrition among underfive children : within and between-group inequalities in Zimbabwe
Date
2020-08-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
Background: Food insecurity and malnutrition in children are pervasive public health concerns in Zimbabwe.
Previous studies only identified determinants of food insecurity and malnutrition with very little efforts done in
assessing related inequalities and decomposing the inequalities across household characteristics in Zimbabwe. This
study explored socioeconomic inequalities trend in child health using regression decomposition approach to
compare within and between group inequalities.
Methods: The study used Demographic Health Survey (DHS) data sets of 2010\11 and 2015. Food insecurity in
under-five children was determined based on the WHO dietary diversity score. Minimum dietary diversity was
defined by a cut- off point of > 4 therefore, children with at least 3 of the 13 food groups were defined as food
insecure. Malnutrition was assessed using weight for age (both acute and chronic under-nutrition) Z-scores.
Children whose weight-for-age Z-score below minus two standard deviations (− 2 SD) from the median were
considered malnourished. Concentration curves and indices were computed to understand if malnutrition was
dominant among the poor or rich. The study used the Theil index and decomposed the index by population
subgroups (place of residence and socioeconomic status).
Results: Over the study period, malnutrition prevalence increased by 1.03 percentage points, while food insecurity
prevalence decreased by 4.35 percentage points. Prevalence of malnutrition and food insecurity increased among
poor rural children. Theil indices for nutrition status showed socioeconomic inequality gaps to have widened, while
food security status socioeconomic inequality gaps contracted for the period under review.
Conclusion: The study concluded that unequal distribution of household wealth and residence status play
critical roles in driving socioeconomic inequalities in child food insecurity and malnutrition. Therefore, child food
insecurity and malnutrition are greatly influenced by where a child lives (rural/urban) and parental wealth.
Description
CITATION: Lukwa, A. T., et al. 2020. Socioeconomic inequalities in food insecurity and malnutrition among under-five children : within and between-group inequalities in Zimbabwe. BMC Public Health, 20:1199, doi:10.1186/s12889-020-09295-z.
The original publication is available at http://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com
The original publication is available at http://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com
Keywords
Food security -- Children -- Zimbabwe, Food insecurity in children -- Zimbabwe, Malnutrition in infants, Infants -- Nutrition, Children -- Nutrition -- Requirements, Infants -- Nutrition -- Requirements, Equality -- Health aspects -- Children, Nutrition -- Zimbabwe -- Evaluation, Nutrition disorders in children -- Zimbabwe, Malnutrition in children -- Rural poverty -- Zimbabwe, Malnutrition in children -- Rural population -- Zimbabwe
Citation
Lukwa, A. T., et al. 2020. Socioeconomic inequalities in food insecurity and malnutrition among under-five children : within and between-group inequalities in Zimbabwe. BMC Public Health, 20:1199, doi:10.1186/s12889-020-09295-z