Household Food Insecurity Is Associated with Childhood Malaria in Rural Haiti ,

Abstract

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and is heavily affected by food insecurity and malaria. To find out if these 2 conditions are associated with each other, we studied a convenience sample of 153 women with children 1–5 y old in Camp Perrin, South Haiti. Household food insecurity was assessed with the 16-item Escala Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Seguridad Alimentaria (ELCSA) scale previously validated in the target communities. ELCSA's reference time period was the 3 mo preceding the survey and it was answered by the mother. Households were categorized as either food secure (2%; ELCSA score = 0), food insecure/very food insecure (42.7%; ELCSA score range: 1–10), or severely food insecure (57.3%; ELCSA score range: 11–16). A total of 34.0% of women reported that their children had malaria during the 2 mo preceding the survey. Multivariate analyses showed that severe food insecure was a risk factor for perceived clinical malaria (odds ratio: 5.97; 95% CI: 2.06–17.28). Additional risk factors for perceived clinical malaria were as follows: not receiving colostrum, poor child health (via maternal self-report), a child BMI 2, and child vitamin A supplementation more than once since birth. Findings suggest that policies and programs that address food insecurity are also likely to reduce the risk of malaria in Haiti.