Poverty, household food insecurity and nutrition: coping strategies in an informal settlement in the Vaal Triangle, South Africa.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to determine household food security and coping strategies of an informal settlement in the Vaal Triangle.

STUDY DESIGN

A survey study design was used.

METHODS

Pre-tested socio-demographic questionnaires were administered to 357 randomly selected caregivers and 149 children aged 9-13 years old. A validated quantified food frequency questionnaire (QFFQ) and 24-h recall were used to measure dietary intake and food consumption patterns and the Cornell hunger scale to determine coping strategies. Data were statistically analysed for means and standard deviations.

RESULTS

The results indicated that the majority of caregivers (68.8%) had an income of <R500 (77 US dollars) per month, 70.5% (n=190) indicated a frequent shortage of money and 58.3% spent less than R100 (15 US dollars) per week on food. The coping strategies used were: limiting the variety of foods served (74.7%), limiting portion sizes (80%), skipping of meals (68.4%) and maternal buffering (75.8%).

CONCLUSIONS

It can be concluded that this is a poverty-stricken community with household food insecurity where the caregivers changed their food consumption patterns to cope, resulting in compromised nutrition.