Hillbruner Chris, Egan Rebecca
Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Food Nutr Bull. 2008 Sep;29(3):221-31. doi: 10.1177/156482650802900308.
The influence of seasonality on food security and nutritional status is widely accepted. However, research has typically focused on rural households and has not explored the specific mechanisms underlying seasonal effects.
To investigate the role of seasonality in determining the food security and nutritional status of low-income urban households and to isolate specific pathways through which seasonality has its impact.
Secondary panel data from CARE/IFPRI were utilized. Three rounds of data were collected from approximately 600 households in low-income areas of Dinajpur, Bangladesh, from 2002 through 2003, twice during the monsoon season and once in the dry season. Household-level surveys collected data on income and expenditure, employment, urban agriculture, health, and assets. Height and weight measurements were taken from children between the ages of 6 and 72 months. Paired t-tests and logistic fixed-effects modeling were then used to explore the role of seasonality.
The prevalence rates of food insecurity, wasting, and inadequate growth were all significantly higher during the monsoon season as compared with the dry season. Dietary diversity and lost work due to the weather were identified as specific pathways through which season affected household food security. However, mechanisms hypothesized to contribute to seasonal declines in nutritional status, such as child illness, were not found to be significant.
Season had a significant effect on both food security and nutritional status in Dinajpur, with households consistently worse off during the monsoon season. Initiatives to promote food market development, support employment during the hunger season, and prevent seasonal declines in nutritional status should be implemented.
季节性对粮食安全和营养状况的影响已得到广泛认可。然而，以往研究通常聚焦于农村家庭，尚未探究季节性影响背后的具体机制。
调查季节性在决定低收入城市家庭粮食安全和营养状况方面的作用，并找出季节性产生影响的具体途径。
使用了美国援外合作署/国际粮食政策研究所的二手面板数据。2002年至2003年期间，从孟加拉国迪纳杰布尔低收入地区约600户家庭收集了三轮数据，在季风季节进行了两次，旱季进行了一次。家庭层面的调查收集了收入与支出、就业、城市农业、健康和资产方面的数据。对6至72个月大的儿童进行了身高和体重测量。然后使用配对t检验和逻辑固定效应模型来探究季节性的作用。
与旱季相比，季风季节粮食不安全、消瘦和生长不足的患病率均显著更高。饮食多样性和因天气导致的工作损失被确定为季节影响家庭粮食安全的具体途径。然而，假设导致营养状况季节性下降的机制，如儿童疾病，并未被发现具有显著性。
季节对迪纳杰布尔的粮食安全和营养状况均有显著影响，季风季节家庭状况持续较差。应实施促进粮食市场发展、在饥饿季节支持就业以及防止营养状况季节性下降的举措。
