Page 168 - GHES-2-1

Global Health Econ Sustain

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Examining the relationship between urban

household food insecurity and under-five
mortality in Lideta Sub-city, Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia

1
1
Ephrem Tadesse Goda *, Terefe Degefa Boshera , and Mengistu Ketema Aredo 2
1 Center for Population Studies, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
2 Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Institute, Ethiopian Economic Association, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Household food insecurity increases the risk of morbidity and mortality in children.
Improved reproductive health in women enhances the nutrition status of children,
while better food security helps children survive. This study aims to examine the
relationship between food insecurity and under-five mortality. A community-based
cross-sectional study was conducted from February to March 2023 in Lideta Sub-City,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A total of 605 women of reproductive age were selected using
multistage sampling. A Pearson Chi-square test (χ ) and logistic regression were
2
Academic editor: used to assess the association between food insecurity and under-five mortality
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE after adjusting for other covariates. The result of the study shows that food security
*Corresponding author: status was a significant predictor of under-five mortality at p < 0.05. According to
Ephrem Tadesse Goda the findings, women from food-insecure households were 3.89 times more likely to
(ephr15@yahoo.com)
experience under-five mortality compared to women from food-secure households.
Citation: Goda, E.T., Boshera, T.D., Similarly, women’s education, age at first birth, initiation of breastfeeding, child’s age
& Aredo, M.K. (2024). Examining
the relationship between urban and sex, birth order, and the number of children ever born were significant predictors
household food insecurity and of under-five mortality at p < 0.05. These outcomes reinforce the notion that food
under-five mortality in Lideta Sub- insecurity is a significant public health concern. Consequently, national and regional
city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Global considerations should prioritize addressing household food insecurity and cases of
Health Econ Sustain, 2(1): 1682.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.1682 acute malnutrition to achieve sustainable development goals.
Received: August 26, 2023
Accepted: January 2, 2024 Keywords: Under-five mortality; Food insecurity; Lideta Sub-City; Addis Ababa; Ethiopia
Published Online: March 15, 2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an Open-Access article 1. Introduction
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution The world’s population has experienced a remarkable increase, growing from 1 billion
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, in 1800 to a staggering 8 billion today. The less developed countries in Africa, Asia, and
provided the original work is Latin America now account for 85% of the world’s population but contribute to 99% of
properly cited. global population growth (United Nations, 2022). The highest fertility rates and under-five
Publisher’s Note: AccScience mortality rates are found in the poorest and most food-insecure countries (Boliko, 2019;
Publishing remains neutral with FAO, 2020). Surprisingly, the world is still home to over 800 million undernourished people,
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional with over 97% of them living in developing countries, and the rate of undernourishment
affiliations. worldwide is on the rise, affecting 9.9% of people globally (FAO, 2021).

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.1682