Ensuring food availability in the household: evidences from rural area of North-East Malaysia

Household food insecurity is increasingly being recognised as a serious public health concern in Malaysia. While starvation seldom occurs in this country, children and adultsdo go hungry andchronic mildundernutrition occurs when financialresources are low. The problem of food insecurity can be br...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Afandi, Aflah, ., Wan A. Manan, AM, Noorizam, HB, Syahrul, ZAMH, Zabidi-Hussin
Format: Proceeding Paper
Language:English
Published: 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/13233/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/13233/1/Ensuring_food_availability_in_the_household.pdf
_version_ 1848777539747577856
author Afandi, Aflah
., Wan A. Manan
AM, Noorizam
HB, Syahrul
ZAMH, Zabidi-Hussin
author_facet Afandi, Aflah
., Wan A. Manan
AM, Noorizam
HB, Syahrul
ZAMH, Zabidi-Hussin
author_sort Afandi, Aflah
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
description Household food insecurity is increasingly being recognised as a serious public health concern in Malaysia. While starvation seldom occurs in this country, children and adultsdo go hungry andchronic mildundernutrition occurs when financialresources are low. The problem of food insecurity can be broadly defined as limited, inadequate or insecure access by individuals and households to sufficient, safe, nutritious and personally acceptable foods to meet their dietary requirements for a healthy life. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between food insecurity and nutritional outcome among preschool children in a rural district and examine how low-income families meet their food and nutrition needs. In this cross-sectional study, weight and height / length were measured in a sample of mothers and children from 296 selected households. Questionnaires were used to collect socio-economic and other related information. The validated Radimer / Cornell Food Insecurity instrument was utilised to assess food security. Hunger and food insecurity was reported by 54% (n=159) of the mothers surveyed, which include 21% (n=62) individual (mother) food insecure and 21% (n=62) child hunger. Among food insecure households with children; 70.4% reported that at times they could not afford to feed their children with balanced meals, 35.2% of the children were not eating enough and 34.6% of the children reported ever getting hungry as the family could not afford to provide enough food. This study also revealed that the mothersplayprime roles in ensuring foodsecurity andnutrition status oftheir household members by practising some coping strategies. Although foods were spared for the children, the quality of the food is insufficient to meet the recommended needs. This study suggests that food insecurity is one possible reason that may contribute to poor growth and development of young children in the study area.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T14:47:36Z
format Proceeding Paper
id iium-13233
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T14:47:36Z
publishDate 2006
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling iium-132332013-07-18T04:48:55Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/13233/ Ensuring food availability in the household: evidences from rural area of North-East Malaysia Afandi, Aflah ., Wan A. Manan AM, Noorizam HB, Syahrul ZAMH, Zabidi-Hussin RA Public aspects of medicine RJ101 Child Heatlh. Child health services. Preventive health services for children Household food insecurity is increasingly being recognised as a serious public health concern in Malaysia. While starvation seldom occurs in this country, children and adultsdo go hungry andchronic mildundernutrition occurs when financialresources are low. The problem of food insecurity can be broadly defined as limited, inadequate or insecure access by individuals and households to sufficient, safe, nutritious and personally acceptable foods to meet their dietary requirements for a healthy life. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between food insecurity and nutritional outcome among preschool children in a rural district and examine how low-income families meet their food and nutrition needs. In this cross-sectional study, weight and height / length were measured in a sample of mothers and children from 296 selected households. Questionnaires were used to collect socio-economic and other related information. The validated Radimer / Cornell Food Insecurity instrument was utilised to assess food security. Hunger and food insecurity was reported by 54% (n=159) of the mothers surveyed, which include 21% (n=62) individual (mother) food insecure and 21% (n=62) child hunger. Among food insecure households with children; 70.4% reported that at times they could not afford to feed their children with balanced meals, 35.2% of the children were not eating enough and 34.6% of the children reported ever getting hungry as the family could not afford to provide enough food. This study also revealed that the mothersplayprime roles in ensuring foodsecurity andnutrition status oftheir household members by practising some coping strategies. Although foods were spared for the children, the quality of the food is insufficient to meet the recommended needs. This study suggests that food insecurity is one possible reason that may contribute to poor growth and development of young children in the study area. 2006 Proceeding Paper PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/13233/1/Ensuring_food_availability_in_the_household.pdf Afandi, Aflah and ., Wan A. Manan and AM, Noorizam and HB, Syahrul and ZAMH, Zabidi-Hussin (2006) Ensuring food availability in the household: evidences from rural area of North-East Malaysia. In: 21st Scientific Conference of the Nutrition Society of Malaysia, 30-31 March 2006, Kuala Lumpur. http://nutriweb.org.my/publications/mjn0012_2/supplement.pdf
spellingShingle RA Public aspects of medicine
RJ101 Child Heatlh. Child health services. Preventive health services for children
Afandi, Aflah
., Wan A. Manan
AM, Noorizam
HB, Syahrul
ZAMH, Zabidi-Hussin
Ensuring food availability in the household: evidences from rural area of North-East Malaysia
title Ensuring food availability in the household: evidences from rural area of North-East Malaysia
title_full Ensuring food availability in the household: evidences from rural area of North-East Malaysia
title_fullStr Ensuring food availability in the household: evidences from rural area of North-East Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Ensuring food availability in the household: evidences from rural area of North-East Malaysia
title_short Ensuring food availability in the household: evidences from rural area of North-East Malaysia
title_sort ensuring food availability in the household: evidences from rural area of north-east malaysia
topic RA Public aspects of medicine
RJ101 Child Heatlh. Child health services. Preventive health services for children
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/13233/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/13233/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/13233/1/Ensuring_food_availability_in_the_household.pdf