Characteristics of Social Vulnerability and Food Insecurity among Urban Families in Extreme Poverty in Brazil

Daniela Sanches Frozi^1, , Rosely Sichieri², Sandra Maria Chaves dos Santos³ and Rosangela Alves Pereira¹

¹Department of Applied and Social Nutrition, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Full Member of the National Council for Food and Nutritional Security, Brasilia, DF, Brazil

²Department of Epidemiology, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

³School of Nutrition, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil

Cite this paper

Daniela Sanches Frozi, Rosely Sichieri, Sandra Maria Chaves dos Santos and Rosangela Alves Pereira. Characteristics of Social Vulnerability and Food Insecurity among Urban Families in Extreme Poverty in Brazil. Journal of Food Security. 2015; 3(2):62-68. doi: 10.12691/JFS-3-2-4

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize food insecurity and strategies to cope with food scarcity in 1,085 families evaluated in a cross-sectional population-based study conducted in a low-income neighborhood of the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, Brazil. Data were collected in personal interviews applying a structured survey which included a food frequency questionnaire and the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Families were classified as “extremely poor”, if per capita family income was under US$1.00 per day or, otherwise, as “out of extreme poverty”. “Extremely poor” families were also stratified as beneficiaries or not of cash transfer programs which were later consolidated within the Programa Bolsa Família. Overall, the studied families lived under critical sanitary conditions. Families in extreme poverty presented worse conditions of household sanitation, food insecurity and reported poorer food quality, less frequent consumption of fruit and vegetables, and increased use of practices and strategies to alleviate food shortages than families free of extreme poverty. The prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity among “out of extreme poverty” families was at least five times lower than that observed in families living under extreme poverty (p<0.01). Extremely poor family heads were mostly young, female, black or mixed, or low educated individuals, characteristics which regularly coincide with social vulnerability.

Keywords

cash transfer program, family head, sanitary conditions, socioeconomic conditions, extreme 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/

References

[1]	B. K. G. Arruda “Geografia da Fome: da lógica regional à universalidade”. Cadernos de Saúde Pública.vol.13, no.3, pp. 545-9, 1997.
[2]	L. D. Castiel, “The misuse of euphemisms in public health: the case of ‘food insecurity’.” J Epidemiol Community Health, vol. 59, no 8, pp.618, 2005.
[3]	J. D. Sachs, “The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time Penguin Press”, (HC ISBN 1-59420-045-9), 2005.
[4]	A. Sen, “Development as Freedom”, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999.
[5]	World Health Organization (WHO). Human rights, health, and poverty reduction strategies. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2008.
[6]	A. L. Webb A. Schiff D. Currivan E. Villamor. “Food Stamp Program participation but not food insecurity is associated with higher adult BMI” in Massachusetts residents living in low-income neighborhoods in Public Health Nutr., pp. 1-8, 2008.
[7]	W. S. Wolfe E. A. Frongillo P. Valois. “Understanding the Experience of Food Insecurity by Elders Suggests Ways to Improve Its Measurement.” J Nutr., vol. 133, no.9, pp. 2762-9, 2003.
[8]	B. W. Furness, P. A. Simon, C. M. Wold, J. Asarian-Anderson, “Prevalence and predictors of food insecurity among low-income households in Los Angeles County,” Public Health Nutr, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 791-794, 2004.
[9]	L.S. Flavio Valente D.C. Maarten DCC, Immink,. “How political and social activism lead to a human rights approach to food and nutritional security in Brazil”. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, Vol. 40, Iss. 6, 2001.
[10]	M. Chilton S. Booth, “Hunger of the Body and Hunger of the Mind: African American Women’s Perceptions of Food Insecurity” in Health and Violence. J Nutr Educ Behav, vol.39, no. 3, pp. 116-25, 2007.
[11]	FAO, Organización de las naciones unidas para Agricultura e Alimentación – El estado de la inseguridad alimentaria en el mundo, Roma, Itália, p. 59, 2008.
[12]	E. A. Frongillo, “Understanding obesity and program participation in the context of poverty and food insecurity,” J Nut, vol. 133, pp. 2117-2118, 2003.
[13]	13. N. Zerati_Shoae N. Omidvar M. Ghazi-Tabatabai A. Houshiar Rad H. Fallah Y. Mehrabi. “Is the adapted Radimer/Cornell questionnaire valid to measure food insecurity of urban households in Tehran, Iran?” Public Health Nutr., vol. 10, pp. 855-61, 2007.
[14]	R. Perez-Escamilla A. M. Segall-Correa L. K. Maranha M. F. A. Sampaio, L. Marin-Leon, G. Panigassi. “An adapted version of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Insecurity module is a valid tool for assessing household food insecurity in Campinas, Brazil.” J Nutr., vol. 134, no 8, p. 1923, 2004.
[15]	IBGE. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Censo Demográfico, 2000. Available at: http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/populacao/default_censo_2000.shtm.
[16]	Segall-Correa AM, Salles-Costa R. “Novas possibilidades de alimentação a caminho?” Democ Viva. Vol. 39, PP 68-73, 2008.
[17]	S. Jr. Norhasmah M. S. Zalilah M. T. Mohd Nasir M. Kandiah A. S. Asnarulkhadi, “A Qualitative Study on Coping Strategies among Women from Food Insecurity Households in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan,” J Nutr, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 39-54, 2010.
[18]	V.S. Tarasuk. “Household Food Insecurity with Hunger Is Associated with Women’s Food Intakes, Health and Household Circumstances”. Journal of Nutrition. Vol.31, pp. 2670-2676, 2001.
[19]	K.L. Radimer C.M. Olson J.C. Greene C.C. Campbell J.P. Habitch. “Understanding hunger and developing indicators to assess women and children”. J Nutr Educ. Vol. 24, pp 36-45, 1992.
[20]	M. C. Gulliford D. Mahabir B. Rocke “Food insecurity, food choices, and body mass index in adults: nutrition transition in Trinidad and Tobago,” International Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 32, pp. 508-516, 2003.
[21]	E. Gucciardi, J. A. Vogt M. DeMelo D. E. Stewart, “Exploration of the relationship between household food insecurity and diabetes in Canada,” Diabetes Care, vol. 32, no.12, pp. 2218-2224, 2009.
[22]	J. A. Mello K. M. Gans P. M. Risica, U. Kirtania L. O. Strolla L. Fournier, “How is food insecurity associated with dietary behaviors? An analysis with low-income, ethnically diverse participants in a nutrition intervention study,” J Am Diet Assoc, vol. 110, no. 12, pp. 1906-1911, 2010.
[23]	L.H. Epstein B. Saelens BE. “Behavioral economics of obesity: food intake and energy expenditure”. In: Bickel WKV, Vuchinich RE (eds). Reframing Health Behavior Change with Behavioral Economics. Lawrence Erlbaum: Mahwah, NJ, pp 293-311, 2000.
[24]	A. Drewnowski S.E. Specter, “Poverty and obesity: the role of energy density and energy costs”. Am J Clin Nutr, vol.79, pp. 6-16, 2004.
[25]	K. Y. Uchimura M. L. M. Bosi F. E. L. de Lima V. F. Dobrykopf, “Qualidade da alimentação: percepções de participantes do programa bolsa família,” Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 687-694, 2012.
[26]	F. F. Carneiro G. F. Netto C. Corvalan, C. M. de Freitas L. B. F. Sales, “Saúde ambiental e desigualdades: construindo indicadores para o desenvolvimento sustentável,” Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 1419- 1425, 2012.
[27]	Brasil Portal Brasil. [Lei Orgânica de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional completa 5 anos]. [updated September 15 2011; accessed 2012 August 2]; Available at http://www.brasil.gov.br/noticias/arquivos/2011/09/15/lei-organica-de-segurancaalimentar-e-nutricional-completa-5-anos.