Food Insecurity and Water Insecurity in Rural Zimbabwe: Development of Multidimensional Household Measures

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 18; no. 11; p. 6020
• Main Authors: Koyratty, Nadia, Jones, Andrew D, Schuster, Roseanne, Kordas, Katarzyna, Li, Chin-Shang, Mbuya, Mduduzi N N, Boateng, Godfred O, Ntozini, Robert, Chasekwa, Bernard, Humphrey, Jean H, Smith, Laura E, On Behalf Of The Shine Trial Team
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 03.06.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Data collection; Factor analysis; Food; Food availability; Food Insecurity; Food quality; Food security; Food Supply; Global health; Health care; Households; Human nutrition; Humans; Hygiene; Indicators; Infant; Infant nutrition; Malnutrition; Nutrition; Population; Public health; Questionnaires; Reliability analysis; Reproducibility of Results; Rural areas; Sanitation; Securities markets; Variables; Water Insecurity; Water quality; Water shortages; Water supply; Womens health; Zimbabwe; Zimbabwe; Ethiopia; India; measures; water insecurity; households; food insecurity; dimensions
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18116020

: With millions of people experiencing malnutrition and inadequate water access, FI and WI remain topics of vital importance to global health. Existing unidimensional FI and WI metrics do not all capture similar multidimensional aspects, thus restricting our ability to assess and address food- and water-related issues. : Using the Sanitation, Hygiene and Infant Nutrition Efficacy (SHINE) trial data, our study conceptualizes household FI ( = 3551) and WI ( = 3311) separately in a way that captures their key dimensions. We developed measures of FI and WI for rural Zimbabwean households based on multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) for categorical data. : Three FI dimensions were retained: 'poor food access', 'household shocks' and 'low food quality and availability', as were three WI dimensions: 'poor water access', 'poor water quality', and 'low water reliability'. Internal validity of the multidimensional models was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with test samples at baseline and 18 months. The dimension scores were associated with a group of exogenous variables (SES, HIV-status, season, depression, perceived health, food aid, water collection), additionally indicating predictive, convergent and discriminant validities. : FI and WI dimensions are sufficiently distinct to be characterized via separate indicators. These indicators are critical for identifying specific problematic insecurity aspects and for finding new targets to improve health and nutrition interventions.