Abstract

LECLERCQ-BARRIGA, Martha et al. Characterization of food insecurity in beneficiary families of the food Bank Foundation, Archidiocese of Bogotá, Colombia, 2005 . Univ. Sci. [online]. 2008, vol.13, n.1, pp.43-54. ISSN 0122-7483.

Families at risk of food insecurity were characterized with the System for Identification and Surveillance of Food Vulnerability, SIMVA, developed by the World Food Program, WFP. Aspects such as household and family demographic characteristics, food availability, food access, and access to goods and services, among others, were evaluated in order to direct resources and interventions towards the population in vulnerability. Study was conducted in a beneficiary institution of the Food Bank Foundation, Archidiocese of Bogotá, inside eighteen families with children under 5 years old which were classified by anthropometric standards as having acute or chronic nutritional deficit. Factors with highest vulnerability were: community participation; breast feeding in children from 6 to 24 months old; participation in food assistance programs; breakfast and dinner for people under 18 years old; intake of protein of high biological value; rejection of families to eat vegetables; substitution of non convenient foods to maintain a healthy diet; access to credit and savings; acute morbidity in children under five years old; visits to health services only in case of illness. Recommendations were issued to institutions that belong to the Local Family Welfare System to direct actions and resources to those risk factors identified and mentioned before.

Keywords : food vulnerability; food insecurity; anthropometry.