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Food insecurity among refugee families in East London: results of a pilot assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2006

Daniel W Sellen ,
Alison E Tedstone  and
Jacqueline Frize
Daniel W Sellen*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA Public Health Nutrition Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Alison E Tedstone
Affiliation:
Public Health Nutrition Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Jacqueline Frize
Affiliation:
Public Health Nutrition Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Email dsellen@emory.edu
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Abstract

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Objective:

To identify child hunger and examine its association with family factors, receipt of benefits, housing conditions and social support among recently arrived refugee families with young children.

Design:

Structured and semi-structured questionnaire administered to a service-based, purposive sample of caregivers.

Setting:

East London, United Kingdom.

Subjects:

Thirty households with children <5 years old, resident in the UK for <2 years.

Results:

All households sampled were food-insecure, and 60% of index children were experiencing hunger as defined on the Radimer/Cornell scale. Child hunger was significantly associated with recent arrival, marginally significantly associated with receipt of fewer benefits and younger parenthood, and not associated with maternal education or self-efficacy score, household size or composition, or measures of social support.

Conclusions:

A community-based, participatory approach for rapid assessment of the prevalence, extent and causes of child hunger among newly arrived asylum seekers recently arrived in Britain is feasible, and preliminary results suggest a programmatic need for a broader, population-based assessment of food insecurity in this rapidly growing population group.

Keywords

Child hungerAsylum seekersSomaliBravaKosovoAlbaniaColombiaEcuadorPovertyLow incomeNutritionPolicyUnited Kingdom
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 5 , Issue 5 , December 2002 , pp. 637 - 644
Copyright
Copyright © CABI Publishing 2002

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