The relationship between agricultural biodiversity, dietary diversity, household food security, and stunting of children in rural Kenya
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Date
2016
Authors
M’Kaibi, Florence K.
Steyn, Nelia P.
Ochola, Sophie A.
Plessis, Lissane Du
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley Open Access
Abstract
The study was to determine the role of Dietary diversity (DD), household food
security (HFS), and agricultural biodiversity (AB) on stunted growth in children.
Two cross-sectional studies were undertaken 6 months apart. Interviews were
done with mothers/caregivers and anthropometric measurements of children
24–59 months old. HFS was assessed by household food insecurity access scale
(HFIAS). A repeated 24-h recall was used to calculate a dietary diversity score
(DDS). Agricultural biodiversity (AB) was calculated by counting the number
of edible plants and animals. The study was undertaken in resource-poor households
in two rural areas in Kenya. Mothers/Care givers and household with
children of 24–59 months of age were the main subjects. The prevalence of
underweight [WAZ <−2SD] ranged between 16.7% and 21.6% and stunting
[HAZ <−2SD] from 26.3% to 34.7%. Mean DDS ranged from 2.9 to 3.7 and
HFIAS ranged from 9.3 to 16.2. AB was between 6.6 and 7.2 items. Households
with and without children with stunted growth were significantly different in
DDS (P = 0.047) after the rainy season and HFIAS (P = 0.009) in the dry
season, but not with AB score (P = 0.486). The mean AB for households with
children with stunted growth were lower at 6.8, compared to 7.0 for those with
normal growth, however, the difference was insignificant. Data indicate that
households with children with stunted growth and those without are significantly
different in DDS and HFIAS but not with AB. This suggests some potential in
using DDS and HFIAS as proxy measures for stunting
Description
Doi: 10.1002/fsn3.387