Abstract:
Background: Food insecurity is a condition in which people do not have access to adequate amounts of safe and nutritious food and do not consume enough food to grow normally and live an active and healthy life. Today, high food prices have emerged as a major global challenge, especially for poor and urban households in low-income countries, including Ethiopia. In addition, food riots, political crisis, urbanization, and internal migration of the people from rural to urban in Ethiopia, particularly in the last 2-3 years were aggravating the burden of food insecurity, particularly in urban areas. However, there is inadequate information regarding magnitude of food insecurity and its associated factors in the study area.
Objective: To assess food insecurity status and associated factors among households in Ambo town, Oromia, Ethiopia, 2022
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 397 households
in Ambo town, from December 1–30, 2022, by using systematic random sampling. Data were collected using a pretested structured questionnaire through face-to-face interviews with the household heads. Data were entered using Epi-Data 3.1 and then exported to SPSS version 26. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize descriptive data. Binary logistic regression analysis was computed and variables with p-value < 0.25 were considered candidates for multivariable logistic regression. Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence interval was estimated to identify the association. Statistical significance was declared at a p-value <0.05.
Result: A total of383 households participated in the study with a response rate of 96.5%. The mean age and (±SD) of household heads was 41.9(±9.7) years. The overall prevalence of household food insecurity was 61.9% (95% CI: - 56.8, 66.8). having dependent family members >2 (AOR= 2.51,95 % CI:1.46, 4.31), households head age (being between 18 and 29 years old) (AOR=4.26, 95% CI: (2.14, 8.45), households headed by daily labor (AOR=3.37, 95 % CI: ( 1.64, 6.94), household heads who did not have formal education (AOR=2.88, 95%CI: (1.19, 6.96) and wealth index (being poor) (AOR= 2.91, 95 % CI: ( 1.64, 5.14))were associated with food insecurity.
Conclusion: - Nearly 2/3of households were food insecure in Ambo town. Number of dependent family members, being daily labor; age of household head, not have formal education and low wealth Index were significantly associated with household food insecurity.
