La situación alimentaria de los desconectados de los servicios públicos domiciliarios en la parte alta de la comuna 3 de la ciudad de Mede

• Published in: Revista de la Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública 2018-09, Vol.36 (3), p.5-17
• Main Authors: Yan Carlos Cataño-Montoya, Catalina María Arango-Alzate, Cristina Mejía-Merino
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Subjects: food; malnutrition; poverty; power supply; public water supply; sanitation
• ISSN: 0120-386X; 0120-386X
• DOI: 10.17533/udea.rfnsp.v36n3a02

Objective: To describe the nutritional food situation of the inhabitants of households without household utilities connection in neighborhoods that form the upper section of commune 3 in the city of Medellin. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. Sample size was 220 households, using simple random sampling. Information was collected using a structured questionnaire and using the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale-elcsa (in Spanish, Escala Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Seguridad Alimentaria). A statistical analysis was conducted using spss® software Version 19. Information analysis was conducted using descriptive an exploratory data analysis. Furthermore, a multiple correspondence analysis was conducted to establish social economic and food profiles of the households without utilities connection. The study estimated an association between malnutrition and household socioeconomic variables using a chi-square test. Results: We found that there are two ways of not being connected to household utilities: one as a result of service disconnection (lack of payment) and the other because of access (high risk housing or outside the city's territorial plan). Household population distribution is pyramid-shaped and progressive, where the families are mainly represented by two-parent nuclear families where the head of the household has an informal labor situation; they have their own house and their schooling is no higher than Secondary School. Malnutrition variables were associated with covariates as overcrowding, income level and hut-type housing. Two household classifications were obtained which were households facing moderate to severe food and nutrition insecurity and homes facing slight food insecurity. Conclusion: Households that without utilities connection in the neighborhoods located in the upper sector of commune 3 do not have the economic capacity, and do not have a minimum setting to improve their health conditions, which creates a permanent food risk, particularly for underage children. The basic food basket of the participating households consists of food that mostly provides carbohydrates and calories; they eat fruit in minimum amounts.