Household food insecurity, copying strategies and its associated with parents food preference to children in Dabat Demographic and health surveillance system; North West Ethiopia, April 2019

Abstract Abstract Introduction:- the association of household food insecurity with a physical health problem, quality of life, mental health problem and utilization of health service was reported by several studies. However, the association of household food insecurity with parent’s food preference to children is not assessed even though all of these factors may make parents to prefer inappropriate child food. Therefore this study was aimed to determine the association of food insecurity with parent's food preference. Methods and materials: - A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 6215 households in Dabat district. Data were collected and supervised by experienced data collectors and supervisors working for the surveillance site after five days of training on the tool. Data were entered into the epi data template then transported to Stata 14 software for analysis. An ordinal logistic regression model was fitted to identify predictor for household food insecurity. Finding: About 21.77% of the households were food insecured in Dabat district. High wealth 61% (57-80%), and achieving college education 97%(74-99.6%) were associated with the less likelihood of household food insecurity. While mothers/caretakers preference to feed children always fruit and vegetable only 1.75(1.11-2.57) and, always milk and meat only 1.72(1.17-2.52) were associated were the more likelihood of experiencing the worst state of household food insecurity. Conclusion: -A significant number of households in Dabat had experienced household food insecurity associated with wealth status of the household, and, parents/caretakers specific type of food preference for their children. Therefore we recommend counseling services on the importance of feeding a child with a balanced diet in the improvement of household food security. Keywords: - food insecurity, household, Dabat, surveillance, Gondar and Ethiopia