TY - JOUR
T1 - Household water insecurity is strongly associated with food insecurity
T2 - Evidence from 27 sites in low- and middle-income countries
AU - Household Water Insecurity Experiences – Research Coordination Network (HWISE-RCN)
AU - Brewis, Alexandra
AU - Workman, Cassandra
AU - Wutich, Amber
AU - Jepson, Wendy
AU - Young, Sera
AU - Adams, Ellis
AU - Ahmed, Jam Farooq
AU - Alexander, Mallika
AU - Balogun, Mobolanle
AU - Boivin, Michael
AU - Carrillo, Genny
AU - Chapman, Kelly
AU - Cole, Stroma
AU - Collins, Shalean
AU - Figueroa, Luisa
AU - Freeman, Matthew
AU - Gershim, Asiki
AU - Ghattas, Hala
AU - Hagaman, Ashley
AU - Jamaluddine, Zeina
AU - Tshala-Katumbay, Desire
AU - Krishnakumar, Divya
AU - Maes, Kenneth
AU - Mathad, Jyoti
AU - Maupin, Jonathan
AU - Mbullo, Patrick
AU - Miller, Joshua
AU - Muslin, Ica Martin
AU - Niesluchowski, Monet
AU - Omidvar, Nasrin
AU - Pearson, Amber
AU - Melgar-Quiñonez, Hugo
AU - Sanchez-Rodríguez, Cuauhtemoc
AU - Rosinger, Asher
AU - Santoso, Marianne Vicky
AU - Schuster, Roseanne
AU - Srivastava, Sonali
AU - Staddon, Chad
AU - Stoler, Justin
AU - Sullivan, Andrea
AU - Tesfaye, Yihenew
AU - Triviño, Nathaly
AU - Trowell, Alex
AU - Tutu, Raymond
AU - Escobar-Vargar, Jorge
AU - Zinab, Hassan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - Objectives: Food and water insecurity have both been demonstrated as acute and chronic stressors and undermine human health and development. A basic untested proposition is that they chronically coexist, and that household water insecurity is a fundamental driver of household food insecurity. Methods: We provide a preliminary assessment of their association using cross-sectional data from 27 sites with highly diverse forms of water insecurity in 21 low- and middle-income countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas (N = 6691 households). Household food insecurity and its subdomains (food quantity, food quality, and anxiety around food) were estimated using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale; water insecurity and subdomains (quantity, quality, and opportunity costs) were estimated based on similar self-reported data. Results: In multilevel generalized linear mixed-effect modeling (GLMM), composite water insecurity scores were associated with higher scores for all subdomains of food insecurity. Rural households were better buffered against water insecurity effects on food quantity and urban ones for food quality. Similarly, higher scores for all subdomains of water insecurity were associated with greater household food insecurity. Conclusions: Considering the diversity of sites included in the modeling, the patterning supports a basic theory: household water insecurity chronically coexists with household food insecurity. Water insecurity is a more plausible driver of food insecurity than the converse. These findings directly challenge development practices in which household food security interventions are often enacted discretely from water security ones.
AB - Objectives: Food and water insecurity have both been demonstrated as acute and chronic stressors and undermine human health and development. A basic untested proposition is that they chronically coexist, and that household water insecurity is a fundamental driver of household food insecurity. Methods: We provide a preliminary assessment of their association using cross-sectional data from 27 sites with highly diverse forms of water insecurity in 21 low- and middle-income countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas (N = 6691 households). Household food insecurity and its subdomains (food quantity, food quality, and anxiety around food) were estimated using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale; water insecurity and subdomains (quantity, quality, and opportunity costs) were estimated based on similar self-reported data. Results: In multilevel generalized linear mixed-effect modeling (GLMM), composite water insecurity scores were associated with higher scores for all subdomains of food insecurity. Rural households were better buffered against water insecurity effects on food quantity and urban ones for food quality. Similarly, higher scores for all subdomains of water insecurity were associated with greater household food insecurity. Conclusions: Considering the diversity of sites included in the modeling, the patterning supports a basic theory: household water insecurity chronically coexists with household food insecurity. Water insecurity is a more plausible driver of food insecurity than the converse. These findings directly challenge development practices in which household food security interventions are often enacted discretely from water security ones.
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U2 - 10.1002/ajhb.23309
DO - 10.1002/ajhb.23309
M3 - Article
C2 - 31444940
AN - SCOPUS:85071031854
SN - 1042-0533
VL - 32
JO - American Journal of Human Biology
JF - American Journal of Human Biology
IS - 1
M1 - e23309
ER -