Abstract

MACHADO-DUQUE, Manuel Enrique  and  CALDERON-FLOREZ, Viviana. Socioeconomic determinants, chronic food insecurity and malnutrition in displaced population of early childhood, Pereira, Colombia. Revista médica Risaralda [online]. 2014, vol.20, n.1, pp.3-8. ISSN 0122-0667.

Introduction: child malnutrition and food insecurity are a current public health problem. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children from 0-5 years old of the rural population of Pereira and determine the association of socioeconomic factors and the level of household food insecurity. Materials and Methods: We performed a prospective crosssectional study in children aged 0-5 years old and their families. We assessed household food security, nutritional, socio-demographic, socio-economic and educational variables of the family. The analyses were run with SPSS 20.0 for Windows. Results: We evaluated 68 children, 51.5% were men; with mean age 32.4 ± 17.2 months (range 2.1 to 59.9 months). The 11.8% of children were malnourished, 67.7% of families have food insecurity, with low economic capacity to purchase food. Food insecurity is associated with more than one-person unemployed (p=0.014), low family contribution to monthly food (low to COP $150,000, p=0.004), buy food at local store (p=0.017) with daily food purchase frequency. Discussion: Despite the existence of intervention programs to improve early childhood nutrition, there is still food insecurity and undernutrition. Strategies should be strengthened to ensure the daily diet of children

Keywords : Malnutrition; Infant nutrition disorders; Child nutrition disorders; Food security.

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