Abstract:
Background: Food insecurity and malnutrition among children are common indeveloping
countries including Ethiopia. Food insecurity is probably one of the determinant factors of
malnutrition in children but results are inconclusive.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the magnitude of household food insecurity and
its association with the nutritional status of children in Gambella town.
Method:A community based cross-sectional study was conducted on children in April 2016,in
Gambella town, west Ethiopia. The datawas collected from 284 households having children 6-
59month by the face to face interview usingstructured. Anthropometric measurements were
measured using standard procedures to determine nutritional status of children. Descriptive
statistics, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed to determinethe
association between food insecurity and nutritional status of children.
Result: The overall prevalence of household food insecurity was59.5% with 20.1%,23.6%, and
15.8% households were mildly,moderately, and severely food insecurity, respectively.
Prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting were 23.2%, 12.0% and 13.4%
respectively.Household food insecurity was independentlyassociated with stunting but not with
wasting and underweight.The odds of stunting is highly pronounced in those children who were
from severely and moderately food insecure households (AOR =9.7, 95% CI: 3.75-25.08 vs.
AOR =2.8, 95% CI: 1.14-7.21, respectively).
Conclusion and recommendation: The findings from this study suggest high prevalence of
both household food insecurity and malnutrition among children in Gambella town.Household
food insecurity wasassociated onlywith stunting. So that improving household food insecurity in
Gambella town of Gamella region may be necessary but not sufficient to improve the nutritional
status of young children in the town.An integrated strategy that improves the overall socioeconomic wellbeing of families, maternal education,hygiene and sanitation practices will likely
be more effective in improving child nutritional status in the town.
