Prevalence of Food Insecurity and Associated Factors among Households in Weliso Town, Oromia, Ethiopia

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