Affiliation:
1. Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
Abstract
Background: The world’s population is increasingly becoming urbanized. If the current urban growth rate is to continue, new and unprecedented challenges for food security will be inevitable. Dietary diversity has been used to ascertain food security status albeit at the multicountry and country levels. Thus, household-level studies in urban settings, particularly in sub-Sahara African, are few. Yet, it is imperative that assessments of food security are undertaken particularly in urban settings, due to the projected fast rate of urbanization and the challenges of attaining food security. Objective: To examine household characteristics and dietary diversity. Methods: The study uses data from 452 households from the second round of the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS) EDULINK urban poverty and health study. Bivariate and multivariate analyses are undertaken. Results: Mean dietary diversity for all households is 6.8. Vegetables have the highest diversity, followed by cereal-based and grain products. Household characteristics that have statistically significant associations with dietary diversity include sex and level of education of household head, household wealth quintile, and source of food. Conclusions: There is high dietary diversity in the study communities of Accra but low consumption of foods rich in micronutrient, such as fruits and milk/dairy products. The study brings to fore issues related to resource-disadvantaged entities of the urban system, namely, females, poor households, and the non-educated who have food insecurity problems.
Subject
Nutrition and Dietetics,Geography, Planning and Development,Food Science
Reference51 articles.
1. UN-Habitat. The state of the World’s cities, 2001. Nairobi: United Nations Centre for Human Settlements; 2001:125.
2. Operationalizing Dietary Diversity: A Review of Measurement Issues and Research Priorities
Cited by
51 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献