ABSTRACT

 Food insecurity is a global problem especially in developing countries where most people are estimated to be malnourished. This study looked at food insecurity, coping strategies adopted by households and nutritional status of mothers in Abia and Imo States, Nigeria. The study was a crosssect1onal study where local governments were purposively selected followed by stratified sampling of communities with simple random sampling of households. A total of 600 households were randomly selected from 30 communities in the study area. The research instrument was a structured questionnaire validated, pre-tested and used to elicit infonnation on household basic characteristics. housing and health characteristics and food security status of households. Consumption and other coping strategies were used to determine severity of food insecurity of households. Focus group discussions were used to determine severity of each coping behaviour. Mean nutrient intakes of mothers were calculated from weighed food intake carried out on I 0% of food insecure households. The results were compared with FAO/WHO reference nutrient intakes. Body mass indices of the mothers were calculated from measured weights and heights. The socio-economic data and food security status of households were analyzed using computer software programme Statistical Product for Service Solutions (SPSS) version 20. Logistic regression of food security against factors like household size, mothers' income and educational status was carried out. Simple regression of coping strategy against food insecurity on one hand and body mass indices of mothers on the other hand was carried out. The strength of relationships between variables was determined using coefficient of determination. Majority (79.2%) of households were food insecure while 20.8% were food secure. Levels of food insecurity showed that 45.8% were low food insecure, moderate food insecure households were 32.6% and severe food insecure households were 21.6%. The mean nutrient intakes of mothers from low and moderate food insecurity households were higher than reference intake values for energy, carbohydrate, fat, fibre, calcium, iodine and vitamin C. It was lower than reference intake for protein, iron, zinc, niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, folic acid and vitamin A. for mothers from severe food insecure households, all the nutrient intakes were lower than the reference nutrient intakes except for fat, iodine and vitamin C. Some respondents (33.6%) were in the normal BMI range while 19.4% and 47.0% were underweight and overweight. respectively. There was a weak relationship between food insecurity and household head (odds: 1.032), household size (odds: 1.132) and income of mothers (odd:0.418). There was significant relationship (t=25.250, P <0.05) between coping strategy and household food security. The relationship was strong and positive with R value of 0.574. There was also significant relationship (t = 13.430. P><0.05) between coping strategy and body mass index of mothers. The R square value of 0.434 indicated a strong positive relationship. This shows that nutrition security is affected by many factors which food security is one of them. Identifying household food security status and coping strategies adopted by food insecure households together with nutritional status of mothers is imperative so that effective strategies could be developed and implemented. >