Factors Influencing Food Security, Adequate Care And Environmental Quality In The Context Of Climate Change In Rudewa-Mbuyuni, Kilosa District

ABSTRACT

Under-nutrition is a multifaceted problem and of recent, climate change-related factors are suspected as additional frustration to intervention efforts. A cross sectional study was conducted to determine factors influencing food security, care and environmental quality in a changing weather pattern. Face-to-face household interviews using structured questionnaire and FGD using check lists was conducted. Nutrition status was assessed using anthropometric measurements. A sample comprising 256 households was obtained through multistage random sampling. The prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting for children below the age of five years were 39, 15 and 1.7% respectively. The prevalence of under-nutrition in women (low BMI) was 5.8% and that of obesity was 7.1%. Factors influencing nutrition security included food consumption level, availability of food in the household, quality of care and sanitation. Food consumption diversity and annual household income variables explained 21% of the observed variation in women BMI. About 32% of observed variation in children’s weight-for-age z-score was explained by income, feeding practices and sanitation. Income was significantly correlated with meal diversity score (r=0.2, p