Vulnerability to Food Insecurity in Urban Slums: Experiences from Nairobi, Kenya

作者：Elizabeth Wambui Kimani-Murage, Lilly Schofield, Frederick Murunga Wekesah, Shukri F. Mohamed, Blessing Uchenna Mberu, Remare Ettarh, Thaddeus Egondi, Catherine K. Kyobutungi, Alex Ezeh · 发表于：Journal of Urban Health · 年份：2014 · DOI：10.1007/s11524-014-9894-3 · 被引用次数：215 · 研究领域：Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations、Child Nutrition and Water Access、Agricultural risk and resilience

Food and nutrition security is critical for economic development due to the role of nutrition in healthy growth and human capital development. Slum residents, already grossly affected by chronic poverty, are highly vulnerable to different forms of shocks, including those arising from political instability. This study describes the food security situation among slum residents in Nairobi, with specific focus on vulnerability associated with the 2007/2008 postelection crisis in Kenya. The study from which the data is drawn was nested within the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS), which follows about 70,000 individuals from close to 30,000 households in two slums in Nairobi, Kenya. The study triangulates data from qualitative and quantitative sources. It uses qualitative data from 10 focus group discussions with community members and 12 key-informant interviews with community opinion leaders conducted in November 2010, and quantitative data involving about 3,000 households randomly sampled from the NUHDSS database in three rounds of data collection between March 2011 and January 2012. Food security was defined using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) criteria. The study found high prevalence of food insecurity; 85% of the households were food insecure, with 50% being severely food insecure. Factors associated with food security include level of income, source of livelihood, household size, dependence ratio; illness, perceived insecur...