Abstract:
Background: - Food insecurity is one of the underlying causes of malnutrition. And it`s a
condition where people don`t have access to adequate amounts of safe and nutritious food
and don`t consume the food that they have to grow normally and conduct an active and
healthy life. Recently, urban food insecurity is a top agenda in Ethiopia, as households
prone to food insecurity are rising because of various factors. However most of studies
conducted on household food insecurity in Ethiopia and Oromia before were in rural.
Objective: To assess the prevalence of food insecurity and associated factors among
households in Woliso town, Oromia, Ethiopia
Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study design was used from 17/12/2021 to
16/01 2022 among randomly selected 397 households in Woliso town. Data collection
was done using a structured questionnaire and data were entered using Epi Info 7 and
exported to SPSS version 20 software for analysis. To identify factors associated with
household food insecurity, multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were done.
An adjusted odds ratio along with a 95% confidence interval were estimated to measure
the strength of the association. In this study, the level of statistical significance was
declared at p<0.05. Results: The prevalence of household food insecurity was 63.4%
95% CI (58.6%, 68.2%). Factors associated with household food insecurity were family
sizes 4-5[(AOR=2.26, 95% CI:- (1.13, 4.53)] and family sizes 6+[(AOR=4.12, 95% CI:-
(1.62, 10.52)], having dependents 1-2 [(AOR= 3.95, 95% CI:-(1.78, 8.8)], >3 dependents
[(AOR=5.59, 95% CI:-(2.01, 15.54)], Household head employment status; unemployed
[(AOR=4.23, 95%CI:-(1.47, 12.2)], self-employed [(AOR=2.6, 95% CI:- (1.09, 6.18)],
wage laborer[(AOR=7.95, 95% CI:- (2.68, 23.56)], Households live in Kebele
house[(AOR=3.39. 95% CI:- (1.63, 7.08)], live in a private rental house[(AOR=3.69 95%
CI:-(1.87,7.27)], Wealth index (poor) [(AOR=3.0, 95% CI:- (1.42, 5.89)].
Conclusion: A majority of households were food insecure in Woliso town. Households
had large family sizes, multiple dependents, Employment in Informal sectors, low wealth
Index (poor), and not owning a house were significantly associated with household food
insecurity. Hence, the Woliso town Administration should alleviate factors associated
with household food insecurity by employing multi-sectorial collaboration
