title: Household food insecurity is associated with childhood malaria in rural Haiti.
abstract: Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and is heavily affected by food insecurity and malaria. To find out if these 2 conditions are associated with each other, we studied a convenience sample of 153 women with children 1-5 y old in Camp Perrin, South Haiti. Household food insecurity was assessed with the 16-item Escala Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Seguridad Alimentaria (ELCSA) scale previously validated in the target communities. ELCSA's reference time period was the 3 mo preceding the survey and it was answered by the mother. Households were categorized as either food secure (2%; ELCSA score = 0), food insecure/very food insecure (42.7%; ELCSA score range: 1-10), or severely food insecure (57.3%; ELCSA score range: 11-16). A total of 34.0% of women reported that their children had malaria during the 2 mo preceding the survey. Multivariate analyses showed that severe food insecure was a risk factor for perceived clinical malaria (odds ratio: 5.97; 95% CI: 2.06-17.28). Additional risk factors for perceived clinical malaria were as follows: not receiving colostrum, poor child health (via maternal self-report), a child BMI <17 kg/m(2), and child vitamin A supplementation more than once since birth. Findings suggest that policies and programs that address food insecurity are also likely to reduce the risk of malaria in Haiti.
authors.affiliation: University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA. rafael.perez-escamilla@uconn.edu
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pérez-Escamilla
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dessalines
authors.forename: Mousson
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Finnigan
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pachón
authors.forename: Amber
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hromi-Fiedler
authors.forename: Nishang
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D027742:Dioscorea; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply; D006205:Haiti / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011203:Poverty; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult