Nutrition News for Africa
Abstract - September 15, 2006
“Development and Validation of an Experience-Based
Measure of Household Food Insecurity within and across Seasons
in Northern Burkina Faso”, by Frongillo EA and Nanama
S, was published in the Journal of Nutrition (J. Nutr. 136:
1409S–1419S, 2006).
Background: Development organizations need
to measure household food insecurity for program design, planning,
targeting, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Existing
measures of food availability alone are inadequate and should
be augmented by measures of access to food.
Aim: This project aimed to use qualitative
and quantitative methods to develop and validate an experience-based
measure of household food insecurity (i.e., access to food)
in northern Burkina Faso.
Methods: Qualitative and quantitative methods
were used to develop and validate an experienced-based measure
of the access component of food insecurity in northern Burkina
Faso. In-depth interviews on food insecurity were done with
10 household heads and 26 women using interview guides. A
longitudinal study provided quantitative data on changes over
time in household food insecurity, economic situation, and
related factors. Data were collected on 126 simple and complex
households from 9 villages each July and January from 2001
to 2003 (5 waves). These data allowed examination of changes
in household food insecurity twice annually across the best
and worst seasons for food, and evaluation of the ability
of the experience-based measure to differentiate changes in
household food insecurity. Validity was assessed by examining
reliability and by comparing the experienced-based food insecurity
measure with economic status, dietary, and anthropometric
measures and with a measure created by an observer who rated
the households’ food insecurity.
Conclusion: The results provide strong evidence
that the experience-based household food insecurity score,
calculated from questionnaire items, was valid for determining
seasonal differences in household food insecurity, differences
among households in food insecurity at a given time, and changes
in household food insecurity over time in northern rural Burkina
Faso. This simple tool provides insight on the access component
of household food insecurity and can be very useful in the
context of programs from assessment to implementation. The
authors conclude that implementing this approach, rather than
translating and adapting items developed elsewhere, may lead
to the best experience-based measures for assessing household
food insecurity in other countries. Although knowledge to
date supports that commonalities in household food insecurity
across cultures may allow for some sharing of items, further
research is needed to compare the performance of measures
fully developed through ethnography in a particular location,
with ones adapted from other locations.
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