Journal of Nutrition Supplement, May 2006

See Also: New Approaches for Measuring Household Food Insecurity and Poverty: the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale

The Journal of Nutrition has been the principal forum for disseminating US-based research on food insecurity scales. It has also published most of the studies dealing with the application of food insecurity scales in developing countries. Publication of the process of developing the HFIAS offers the opportunity to continue this "conversation" by presenting, in one place, one of the most significant advances in food insecurity measurement to emerge over the last decade. The Journal of Nutrition Supplement, published in May 2006, presents the results of the FANTA-led HFIAS initiatives, including:

• findings of the first studies to develop and validate food insecurity scales from the "ground-up" in a developing country context

• findings of the first cross-country study to compare the performance of the same set of food insecurity items in four dramatically different cultures

• results of a cross-country review of food insecurity scale applications and its implications for the development of a universal measurement tool

• status of the process to develop a universal measurement tool

The six articles in the supplement convey the participatory, consultative and collaborative process among donor, academic, and programming institutions that has resulted in: 1) scientifically validated food insecurity scales; 2) structured feedback about the usefulness of the tools in operational settings; 3) consensus about particular aspects of the tool that, as in the U.S., rely on "expert opinion" for face validity.

1. Measuring Household Food Insecurity: Why It's So Important and Yet So Difficult to Do
   Patrick Webb, Jennifer Coates, Edward A. Frongillo, Beatrice Lorge Rogers, Anne Swindale, and Paula Bilinsky
   Journal of Nutrition (2006) 136: 1404S-1408S. http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/136/5/1404S?ijkey=V3XR/yEa6lQ8I&keytype=ref&siteid=nutrition

2. Development and Validation of an Experience-Based Measure of Household Food Insecurity within and across Seasons in Northern Burkina Faso
   Edward A. Frongillo and Siméon Nanama
   Journal of Nutrition (2006) 136: 1409S-1419S. http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/136/5/1409S?ijkey=R3IuSrxBhHsgI&keytype=ref&siteid=nutrition

3. Comparison of a Qualitative and a Quantitative Approach to Developing a Household Food Insecurity Scale for Bangladesh
   Jennifer Coates, Parke E. Wilde, Patrick Webb, Beatrice Lorge Rogers, and Robert F. Houser
   Journal of Nutrition (2006) 136: 1420S-1430S. http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/136/5/1420S?ijkey=sdtVaBXpjNKis&keytype=ref&siteid=nutrition

4. Household Food Insecurity and Food Expenditure in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, and the Philippines
   Hugo R. Melgar-Quinonez, Ana C. Zubieta, Barbara MkNelly, Anastase Nteziyaremye, Maria Filipinas D. Gerardo, and Christopher Dunford
   Journal of Nutrition (2006) 136: 1431S-1437S. http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/136/5/1431S?ijkey=BfSPfD0IabHzM&keytype=ref&siteid=nutrition

5. Commonalities in the Experience of Household Food Insecurity across Cultures: What Are Measures Missing?
   Jennifer Coates, Edward A. Frongillo, Beatrice Lorge Rogers, Patrick Webb, Parke E. Wilde, and Robert Houser
   Journal of Nutrition (2006) 136: 1438S-1448S. http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/136/5/1438S?ijkey=yIvLcaVfnUajY&keytype=ref&siteid=nutrition

6. Development of a Universally Applicable Household Food Insecurity Measurement Tool: Process, Current Status, and Outstanding Issues
   Anne Swindale and Paula Bilinsky
   Journal of Nutrition (2006) 136: 1449S-1452S. http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/136/5/1449S?ijkey=shP2TlEii15uA&keytype=ref&siteid=nutrition

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In addition to work on the HFIAS, FANTA has led an effort to identify additional indicators of the access component of household food insecurity that are simple to use and to develop methods to support the consistent and comparable measurement and reporting of these indicators. Two indicators have been identified as a result of this process, which included extensive input by Title II implementing partners: household dietary diversity score and months of inadequate household food provisioning. Guides have been developed for these indicators that provide a standardized questionnaire with data collection and analysis instructions:

Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) for Measurement of Household Food Access: Indicator Guide [202 kb]

Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning (MAHFP) for Measurement of Household Food Access: Indicator Guide [181 kb]

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