Description

Abstract: Interventions that enhance women’s incomes and nutrition knowledge are likely to improve household food security through increased economic contribution to food expenditures and better nutrition practices. From May 2006 to September 2007, the ENAM project provided nutrition education and enterprise development services for 180 caregivers of young children in three ecological zones of Ghana, with the Goal of improving household food security and child nutrition. A control sample of 287 households were also recruited. At baseline, almost three-quarters of households expressed concern about their inability to meet their food needs and about half of adults and children were reported to consume less food than desired because of poverty. Locale, household size and type, and income were associated independently with food security in the past month (p<0.05). The logistic regression model demonstrated that, compared to control households, there was about a 50% decrease in the risk of food insecurity among intervention households at the final intervention time point (p<0.05). An integrated intervention that addresses barriers to availability, accessibility, and utilization of ASF can reduce household food insecurity. This is a collaborative research effort of ENAM researchers with support through the GL-CRSP, funded in part by USAID, Grant # PCE-G-00-98-00036-00.