Measuring food insecurity and hunger in Peru: a qualitative and quantitative analysis of an adapted version of the USDA's Food Insecurity and Hunger Module.
OBJECTIVE
To adapt a scale to measure perceptions on food insecurity and hunger among households in urban and rural communities in Peru.


METHODS
Qualitative and quantitative methodology including consultation with regional experts, key informant interviews and focus groups. A field survey trial was conducted in urban and rural communities using an adapted version of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Insecurity and Hunger Module (FIHM).


METHODS
Five communities in three regions in Peru - Lima (coast), Ayacucho (Andean highlands) and San Martín (Amazon basin).


METHODS
The qualitative component included forty intentionally selected people (fourteen key informants and twenty-six focus group participants). For the quantitative component 300 households that complied with selection criteria (poor or non-poor with at least one child below 12 years of age) were surveyed.


RESULTS
Qualitative research showed that concern about food availability and access was common among the three regions but its main cause varied across them. Participation in food aid programmes was a strategy to face constraints in food access. Mothers' perceptions on the importance of balanced meals varied across households from different regions. Quantitative results showed robust findings for the reliability of the adapted FIHM's fifteen-item scale (r > 0.863). In addition, descriptive results confirmed parallelism of item responses in the scale for variables such as farm ownership, family size and use of Communal Kitchens.


CONCLUSIONS
This mixed-method study allowed us to adapt the USDA module to assess food insecurity in Peru.
Vargas
Silvana
S
National Agrarian University La Molina, Av. La Molina s/n, La Molina, Lima, Peru. anavlis_2004@yahoo.com
Penny
Mary E
ME
D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture; D001007:Anxiety; D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005522:Food Services; D005523:Food Supply; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D009035:Mothers; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010568:Peru; D011203:Poverty; D011632:Public Assistance; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States; D016885:United States Department of Agriculture