Measurements of food security

Question 1

The definition of the ideal food security measurement. Does the indicator exist?

Answer 1

• A single measure that is valid
  and reliable, comparable over time and space, and which captures different elements of food security.
  -There is no valid indicators exist that meet those criteria.

Question 2

Why the measurement of per-capita caloric intake is not a precise method of measurement of food insecurity?

Answer 2

It measures only the quantity of food, but it does not
address many other elements of the complicated notion of “food security,” such as quality (dietary diversity and
micro-nutrient sufficiency), vulnerability and risks, and
fluctuations and trends in consumption over time.

Question 3

Rapid and non-rapid measurements of food insecurity

Answer 3

• Food Consumption Score(FCS) with calorie uptake(underestimates undernourishment)
• Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (HCES)

Question 4

The purpose of creating HFIAS and its definition

Answer 4

The HFIAS was designed to capture household behaviors signifying insufficient quality and quantity, as well as anxiety over insecure access. A standardized questionnaire

Question 5

How FAO counts the number of food insecure people?

Answer 5

The proportion of three components :food availability, food needed, access

Question 6

What program and scale was created for estimating the prevalence of food insecurity ?

Answer 6

Voices of the hungry project with the FIES scale(food insecurity experience scale) launched in 2013

Question 7

On what terms and statements of the man’s everyday life FIES based

Answer 7

• Worrying about food
• Stretching food resources
• The quality of diet worsens
• Cutting portion sizes
• Skipping meals
• Starvation for one more days

Question 8

Why the FIES scale was developed, how many countries uses it and what is FIES?On what pillar does FIES based?

Answer 8

As the experience of food insecurity is similar worldwide, FAO developed FIES scale, which is a reliable source. They developed a questionnaire with 8 questions. Used in 150 countries. Food accessibility

Question 9

Gallup World Poll

Answer 9

GWP surveys nationally representative samples of the adult population

Question 10

Mild food insecure when…

Answer 10

worrying about ability to obtain food

Question 11

Moderate food insecure when….

Answer 11

• Compromising the quality and the amount of food

- Reducing quantities, skipping meals

Question 12

Severe food insecurity when…

Answer 12

Experiencing hunger

Question 13

How they counted if the country has enough food for the population?

Answer 13

They transform all the food produced in the country into calories and then they calculated the daily requirement of calories per a sedentary person.It also includes that the more the person consumes food , the more micro nutrients he gets.

Question 14

6 dimensions of food insecurity

Answer 14

• Availability(average energy supply adequacy, average protein supply..)
• Physical access(percentage of paved roads over total roads, road density, rail lines density)
• Economic access( domestic price index. In the last ten years, prices are rising (it fluctuates, but the trend is still rising))
• Utilization(access to improved water sources, access to improved sanitation facilities.)
• Vulnerability(cereal import dependency ratio, percentage of arable land equipped for irrigation, value of food imports over total merchandise exports.)
• Shocks (domestic price volatility (variation), food production variability per capita, food supple variability per capita, political stability and absence of violence/terrorism.)

Question 15

The difference between stunted, waisted and underweight

Answer 15

Stunted-you need to measure the height and know the date of birth. (age/height)

Waisted-(weight/height)

Underweight-(weight/age)

Question 16

How many ways are there to determine food insecurity.Name them. The place and the year , they were established.

Answer 16

•5 ways to measure food security. They were defined in 2002 on the conference on Rome.

1. FAO method- food balance sheets (some countries do not have enough facts and techniques to provide this information)
2. Household income and expenditure surveys (the measurement of poverty). How much money I earned, taxes. For poor countries they make surveys.
3. Dietary intake (24 hours recall). This is a way to assess zinc deficiency.
4. Child nutritional status-anthropometric indicators.
5. People’s experience of food insecure (Hugo prefers this method) (FIES)

Question 17

Dimensions of outcomes of food insecurity

Answer 17

Mostly utilization(children under 5 and pregnant women (some other resources focus on fertile women). For the children you need the exact date of birth, sex, height and weight)

and access(prevalence of undernourishment, depth of food inadequacy)

Question 18

Share of food expenditure of the poor. What is it?

Answer 18

An outcome of food insecurity from access category. How much you spend on the food of your income.

Question 19

Difference between a millennium goal and world food summit goal

Answer 19

In 1996 they said that they want to reduce the number of food insecure people by two times. The millennium target(summit in 2000) was to reduce the percentage of undernourished people by half in 2015.Both conferences decided that the reference would be 1990/1992
•By 2015 780 million were undernourished. WFS(world food summit) target was 490 million. World food summit put the number as the goal, millennium goal assessed the percentage. That is why millennium goal is practically achieved, when WFS has to go from 780 to 490 million.

Question 20

Is the number of undernourished people correct?

Answer 20

No, because the activity level was not taken into account. Also the numbers are talking only about the number of calories, but not the quality of food(nutritional value)

Question 21

The disadvantage of FAO method

Answer 21

does not measure access (which is key to FS), it measures only availability

Question 22

The disadvantage of household income and expenditure surveys

Answer 22

•Second method allows us to assess poverty (money needed to have access to food), but you spend money on others things as well, and you do not have a choice

Question 23

Child nutritional status-anthropometric indicators. Disadvantage.

Answer 23

child nutritional status is the consequence of food insecurity. All the methods are proxies. (eg. Body mass index- we want to assess body fat, but instead of we are measuring the height and weight) Proxies- because they are close enough, but not the same thing.

Scales may not be accurate (bad calibration, uneven surface). Accurate scales are expensive
• - Height (or length for babies). If standing not straight -> inaccuracy

Question 24

Dietary intake (24 hours recall). Disadvantage.

Answer 24

In order to consume the food, you need to have access to It.
There are some micronutrients that are not common in our diet- 20 day recall might be needed
• Usually 3 surveys in a row are done e.g. 3 consecutive days
• Inaccurate due to imposed changes in the diet or lies
• Portion size, preparation, additives, types of food are asked for

Question 25

How many people have anemia and zinc deficiency

Answer 25

1/4 and 1/3 of the world’s population

Question 26

How the iron deficiency is measured and why the tests used are not accurate?

Answer 26

• Iron deficiency is usually estimated by measuring hemoglobin, which isn’t complicated- HemoCue
• People might have adequate levels of hemoglobin, but still might be anemic due to the iron storage being depleted. This depletion is not reflected in the level of hemoglobin yet
• This is why Ferritin measure which is, however, more expensive as we need to take a vein blood sample