背景:自2017年以来,全球粮食不安全人数正在增加。撒哈拉以南非洲是世界上粮食严重缺乏保障的人口比例最高的国家。埃塞俄比亚的提格雷地区是粮食不安全地区之一,which,在过去的几十年里,人们一直受到反复出现的食物不安全感的影响。在提格雷易干旱的农村地区,许多人生活在长期饥饿的状态下。适当的粮食安全研究对于适当的干预机制至关重要。然而,以前的粮食安全研究很少涉及粮食安全的四大支柱:可获得性,access,利用率,和稳定性。在这项研究中,适当考虑所有组成部分,以评估提格雷易干旱农村地区的粮食不安全状况,埃塞俄比亚。在提格雷的34个农村地区中,研究了来自三个干旱多发农村地区的363户家庭。
结果:调整了家庭食品不安全获取量表和食品不安全体验量表,以衡量食品的可获得性。获取食物,和粮食安全的稳定组成部分;以及,家庭饮食多样性评分(HDDS),食物消耗评分(FCS),中上臂周长,和Bitot的斑点用于分析食物利用方面。研究结果表明,68%的研究社区经常吃的食物少于他们认为需要的食物,而82.1%的家庭由于缺乏食物而经历过饥饿。这项研究的农村地区与公路网没有联系;因此,87.9%的老年人和20.4%的妇女和女孩无法进入食品市场。关于食物利用,81.5%的研究家庭的FCS较差;研究区域的平均HDDS和FCS分别为2.47和18.9。全球急性营养不良的患病率,严重急性营养不良(SAM),研究地区6-59月龄儿童的中度急性营养不良(MAM)分别为50.3%、4.2%和46.1%,分别。更值得注意的是,食品不安全家庭儿童的SAM患病率为21.2%.研究区域中孕妇和哺乳期妇女(PLW)的MAM患病率为59.5。Further,在6-59个月大的儿童中,Bitot的患病率为1.9%。另一方面,所有农村家庭都对未来的食物需求感到焦虑。
结论:生活在研究地区的农村家庭严重缺乏粮食保障。所有测量都表明,研究地区的粮食不安全状况令人担忧,危及生命。这要求立即采取行动,避免在提格雷地区干旱多发的农村地区发生饥荒和饥饿。因此,干预措施应主要针对脆弱的农村人口,需要在首先实现粮食供应的基础上进行规划,而不是同时解决粮食安全的所有组成部分。Further,应适当强调弱势村民的多样化生计策略。
BACKGROUND: The number of globally food-insecure people is increasing since 2017. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of severely food-insecure people in the world. Tigray region of Ethiopia is one of the food-insecure regions, which, over the past many decades has been affected by recurrent food insecurities. In the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray, many people are living under the condition of chronic hunger. Proper food security studies are vital for proper intervention mechanisms. Yet, previous food security studies have rarely addressed the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability. In this study, all components are duly considered to assess the food insecurity status in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray, Ethiopia. Of the 34 rural districts in Tigray, 363 households from three drought-prone rural districts were studied.
RESULTS: Household Food Insecurity Access Scale and Food Insecurity Experience Scale were adapted to measure the food availability, access to food, and stability components of food security; and, Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), Food Consumption Score (FCS), mid-upper arm circumference, and Bitot\'s spot were used to analyze the food utilization aspect. Findings show that 68% of the studied community frequently ate less food than they felt they needed and 82.1% of the households have experienced hunger because of lack of food. The study rural districts were unconnected to road networks; hence, 87.9% of the elderly and 20.4% of the women and girls had no access to food markets. Regarding the food utilization, 81.5% of the studied households had poor FCS; and the average HDDS and FCS for the study areas were 2.47 and 18.9, respectively. The prevalence of Global acute malnutrition, severe acute malnutrition (SAM), and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) for 6-59 months of age children in the study areas were 50.3, 4.2, and 46.1%, respectively. More notably, the prevalence of SAM for children from the food-insecure households was 21.2%. The prevalence of MAM for pregnant and lactating women (PLW) in the study areas was 59.5. Further, the prevalence of Bitot\'s spot among 6-59 months of age children was 1.9%. On the other hand, all the rural households had anxiety about their future food demands.
CONCLUSIONS: The rural households living in the studied areas were critically food-insecure. All the measurements implied that the food insecurity situation in the study areas was unacceptably worrisome and life-threatening. This calls for an instant action to avert the occurrence of famine and starvation in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray region. Thus, interventions should primarily target the vulnerable rural people and need to be planned based on attaining food availability first rather than concurrently addressing all components of food security. Further, due emphasis should be given to diversifying livelihood strategies of the vulnerable villagers.