IJOH Vol.10 No. 1 (January-June) Article - 19
Research Article
International Journal of One Health, 10(1): 153-160
https://doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2024.153-160
Assessment of prevalence and severity of food insecurity among parents/guardians of students in Basrah Province, Southern Iraq
2. Abu Alkaseeb High School for Outstanding Students, Department of Education in Basrah, Ministry of Education, Basrah, Iraq.
3. Department of Anatomy and Histology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq.
4. Department of Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq.
Background and Aim: An individual’s ability to obtain enough nutritious and healthy food to sustain a healthy lifestyle is a crucial indicator of food security. This study estimated food insecurity’s prevalence and levels among parents/guardians of secondary school students in Basrah and describe its consequences.
Materials and Methods: The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) was implemented through a questionnaire survey to evaluate food insecurity. The relationship between financial factors, attitudes, and psychological impacts regarding food accessibility and affordability was studied in detail. The eight food insecurity questions’ responses were measured using the Rasch model approach.
Results: Two hundred and fifty-two parents/guardians took part in the survey. The prevalence of food insecurity was estimated as 24% (with a 95% confidence interval of 18.9%–29.8%). Around 50% of the parents/guardians stated that their typical income is middle-income. 28% of respondents reported having sufficient food but not their preferred choices, while 35% paired food shortage with financial instability, 32% could not afford nutritionally balanced meals, and 21% of the parents admitted to cut or skipped their meals to other family members. 21% of parents/guardians were affected by inadequate food supply during the COVID-19 pandemic. The level of food insecurity included that 50% of the respondents exhibited mild food insecurity, 19.4% had moderate food insecurity, and 4.3% were classified as having severe food insecurity. According to the Rasch analysis of the FIES data, the likelihood of experiencing severe food insecurity is linked to consuming unhealthy food, having food run out, and eating unbalanced meals.
Conclusion: The study found that financial constraints, food safety concerns, and limited access to nutritious food explain the widespread food insecurity reported. Significant efforts are required to alleviate chronic food shortages in Basrah, including job creation, strengthening agricultural production, and implementing safety-net policies for affected families.
Keywords: food accessibility, food insecurity, parents/guardians, Rasch model.
How to cite this article: Abdulhameed MF, AL-Farhan MM, Alhasson FA, Alsadwi AM (2024) Assessment of prevalence and severity of food insecurity among parents/guardians of students in Basrah Province, Southern Iraq, Int. J. One Health, 10(1): 153–160.
Received: 2024-01-07 Accepted: 2024-05-21 Published online: 2024-06-16
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/IJOH.2024.153-160
Copyright: Abdulhameed, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
