Coping Strategies Adopted by Urban Poor to Ameliorate Food Insecurity: Case of United States, Belize and India

Lauri Wright^1, and Palak Gupta²

¹Department of Community and Family Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

²Department of Food and Nutrition, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

Cite this paper

Lauri Wright and Palak Gupta. Coping Strategies Adopted by Urban Poor to Ameliorate Food Insecurity: Case of United States, Belize and India. Journal of Food Security. 2015; 3(2):40-46. doi: 10.12691/JFS-3-2-2

Abstract

Present research was conducted to understand the coping strategies adopted by urban poor in three-countries: The United States (US), Belize and India. Additionally, the coping strategies were classified into those common to the three countries and those which were unique to a particular country as well. Research was cross-sectional based on convenience sampling of families receiving care at selected health centers and clinics. Total sample size was 219 (US, n=53, Belize, n=61; Indian=105). A semi-structured interview was used to collect data on household food security, coping mechanisms, health status and demography. Additionally, the participants were measured for weight. Standard univariate analysis was conducted using SPSS (version-16).The US had highest prevalence of food insecure families (83%), followed by Belize (62.3%), and India (57.1%). A total of 146 food insecure respondents were interviewed on coping strategies. Common coping strategies adopted by households from all three countries included relying on low-cost cheap foods/seasonal foods, decreasing portion size or number of meals consumed in a day, relying on help from relatives, neighbors and friends during food scarcity, use of resources or savings, pawning, use of government programs, migration of one or more family member, and buying foods on discounts. Strategies unique to a specific country, included praying/ believing in God for help, having back gardens, relying on soup kitchens or religious institutions for food distribution, purchasing food on credit from local grocery shops, starting part-time work to supplement regular employment, freezing food to be consumed during need, and bulk purchase of food items. In conclusion, people were found to adopt coping strategies as an expression of negotiated decisions to minimize the impact of food insecurity. The strategies which are common could be used as foundation to develop interventions to alleviate hunger. Positive, unique strategies could be used to develop interventions which are culturally appropriate, wherever possible.

Keywords

food insecurity, coping strategies, hunger, poverty

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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