Dietary changes in African urban households in response to currency devaluation: foreseeable risks for health and nutrition.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of currency devaluation on dietary change and nutritional vulnerability of poor households in two African capital cities.


METHODS
A qualitative study based on 120 semistructured individual interviews and four focus group discussions in each city.


METHODS
Dakar, Senegal (western Africa) and Brazzaville, Congo (central Africa).


METHODS
All of the subjects were randomly selected women from modest or poor households, who spoke the local common language and were responsible for household meal preparation. Only those likely to restrict the dynamic of focus group discussions (because of language, age or education) were excluded.


RESULTS
Changes were found in meal preparation characteristics (frequency, sharing pattern) and meal composition. There was frequent depletion of fat and vegetable contents in meals, frequent elimination of desserts and even the elimination of one daily meal. These changes specifically affected economically disadvantaged and socially isolated households, and those headed by women. Other changes were the reduction in the size of consumption units and the development of neighbourhood-specific street food - which has been a growing trend in Brazzaville since the outset of the economic crisis but is more recent in Dakar.


CONCLUSIONS
If lasting, these changes pose a dual health risk, i.e. reducing dietary diversity and altering the bacteriological quality of prepared meals. In addition, attempts to reduce the consumption units were found to upset community ties that bind these societies.
Fouéré
T
T
Nutrition Unit, WHO Collaborating Centre for Nutrition, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, 911 Avenue d'Agropolis, 34032, Montpellier Cedex 1, France.
Maire
B
B
Delpeuch
F
F
Martin-Prével
Y
Y
Tchibindat
F
F
Adoua-Oyila
G
G
D003223:Congo / Q000453:epidemiology; D004032:Diet / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D007250:Inflation, Economic; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009753:Nutritive Value; D012675:Senegal / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014504:Urban Health; D014931:Women, Working