Food Security and Nutrition among Adults Living with Disability in Nakuru County, Kenya
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Date
2019
Authors
Chege, Peter
Gachuir, Grace
Ndungu, Zipporah
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nutrition and Food Technology: Open Access
Abstract
People living with disability (PLD) are among the most vulnerable groups to health and nutrition problems mainly due to limited access to essential
services. Minimal information exists on food security and nutrition status among PLD as they are normally excluded from many researches due to
challenges in conducting assessments. This study aimed to document the food security and nutrition status. The study adopted a cross-sectional
analytical research design, in Nakuru municipality, Nakuru County on a randomly selected sample of 422 adults living with various forms of disability.
Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS. Physical disability (67.2%) was the main
disability problem, followed by mental disability (15.2%), deafness/dumbness (10.9%) and visual impairment (5.1%). Over 68% were dependent on
other people for movement and accessibility to essential services. Most of the PLD (55.5%) earned an income of <100 USD monthly, leading to about
40% being food insecure. Prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases was 25.8%, 5.5% and 6.3%, respectively. The prevalence
of overweight, obesity and underweight was 21.5%, 10.2% and 23.4%, respectively, a clear indication of dual burden of malnutrition. Over a half
(53.9%) were noted to be living with stigma towards disability. Among PLD, food insecurity and poor nutrition status is a common phenomenon.
There exists a dual burden of malnutrition. There is thus need to train PLD on good nutrition and on entrepreneurship for income generation.
Description
Keywords
People living with disability, Food security, Nutrition status, Adults
Citation
Chege PM, Gachuiri GW, Ndungu ZW (2019) Food Security and Nutrition among Adults Living with Disability in Nakuru County, Kenya. Nutr Food Technol Open Access 5(1): dx.doi.org/10.16966/2470-6086.157