Poverty, household food insecurity and nutrition: coping strategies in an informal settlement in the Vaal Triangle, South Africa.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to determine household food security and coping strategies of an informal settlement in the Vaal Triangle.


METHODS
A survey study design was used.


METHODS
Pre-tested socio-demographic questionnaires were administered to 357 randomly selected caregivers and 149 children aged 9-13 years old. A validated quantified food frequency questionnaire (QFFQ) and 24-h recall were used to measure dietary intake and food consumption patterns and the Cornell hunger scale to determine coping strategies. Data were statistically analysed for means and standard deviations.


RESULTS
The results indicated that the majority of caregivers (68.8%) had an income of <R500 (77 US dollars) per month, 70.5% (n=190) indicated a frequent shortage of money and 58.3% spent less than R100 (15 US dollars) per week on food. The coping strategies used were: limiting the variety of foods served (74.7%), limiting portion sizes (80%), skipping of meals (68.4%) and maternal buffering (75.8%).


CONCLUSIONS
It can be concluded that this is a poverty-stricken community with household food insecurity where the caregivers changed their food consumption patterns to cope, resulting in compromised nutrition.
Oldewage-Theron
Wilna H
WH
Institute of Sustainable Livelihoods, Vaal University of Technology, Private Bag X021, Vanderbijlpark, 1900, South Africa. wilna@vut.ac.za
Dicks
Emsie G
EG
Napier
Carin E
CE
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology*; D011203:Poverty; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D013019:South Africa; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires