Household Food Insecurity and Associated Dietary and Socio-economic Factors among Pregnant Women of Mid-west Bangladesh

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of household food insecurity and to determine the dietary and non-dietary factors associated with household food insecurity among pregnant women of mid-west Bangladesh.

Methodology: The study was conducted in four sub-districts of Rajshahi district: Rajshahi Sadar, Godagari, Tanor and Shardah. It was a cross-sectional study which randomly enrolled 150 pregnant women. Household food insecurity among the respondents was calculated with the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS).

Results: The mean age of the pregnant women was 29±3 years. About 76% of respondents were food secure, 23% of respondents were mildly food insecure, and only 1% of respondents were moderately food insecure. Severe food insecurity was not observed among the respondents in Rajshahi. About 17% of respondents were anxious and uncertain about their household food supply, about 23% of respondents said that they had to eat foods of insufficient quality and only 1% of respondents replied that they had eaten an insufficient amount of food during the month prior to the study. It was observed that the mean Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) and mean Food Consumption Score (FCS) significantly differed (P < .05) between food secure and food insecure respondents. Meat, fish and poultry consumption were found higher among the food secure respondents but vegetable consumption was higher among the food insecure group. Some socio-economic factors such as household size, respondents’ educational status, husbands’ educational status, husbands’ occupation and monthly household income were significantly associated (P < .05) with household food insecurity of the respondents.