A STUDY OF AWARENESS REGARDING HOUSEHOLD FOOD INSECURITY, FOOD PRACTICES AND HEALTH RISKS AMONG THE RURAL WOMEN OF ALLAHABAD DISTRICT

Paul Virginia and Singh Pallavi. Associate Professor, Department of Foods and Nutrition, Ethelind School of Home Science, SHIATS, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History


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Within the family, compared to male, the women' health, nutrition, education & development are more neglected which has adverse effect on reproductive health. Young women face more problems than male in the family, largely due to socio-cultural factors. There are limited choices available for the future & girls are caught in the cycle of early marriage, pregnancy & childbearing (Cogswell et al., 2003). Education regarding the nutrition & other health aspect during study period will help the young reproductive age rural women for their future life.
In spite of many efforts from different governmental & non governmental agencies focusing on different health aspects, this young population, especially the women, is deprived of the basic health care & awareness.
With the above background, the present study was formulated in order to see the awareness of reproductive age women in relation to health & to assess the effect of educational intervention on their knowledge levels in Allahabad District.

Materials and Methods:-
This study was a cross sectional and descriptive study and 600 women were selected as unit of the study. The 3 villages of Chaka (Dandupur, Dhanuha, Sarangapur) and Jasra block (Semara, Kanjasa, Dalbabari) from Allahabad district were selected as area of the study and 100 respondents were randomly selected from each village as unit of study. The predesigned and pretested pro forma was used to elicit desired information. The Pre-Test questionnaire was filled by the respondents before the exposure of awareness documentary and Post-Test questionnaire was filled after the exposure with awareness documentary again by the respondents to assess the impact of nutritional awareness program. The data obtained was subjected to statistical analysis by using appropriate statistical techniques. The awareness regarding anaemia among the selected respondents was depicted in the Table-1. The observed data shows that only 47.7% respondents were aware about the condition of Anaemia and after the awareness program, the response for the same has been improves i.e. 84.3%. Correct response for the awareness regarding symptoms of anaemia was given by only 19% respondents before the education but after nutrition education, it was 87.2%. Most of the rural women were not aware about the preventive measures of the anaemia (59%) and available treatment for the anaemia (61.5). after the health and education program, response regarding both has been significantly improved i.e. 86.3% and 82% respectively. The observed data revealed that the majority of women were unaware about the term Anaemia and a very small group of women have the awareness regarding symptom, preventive measures and treatment of anaemia which may be resulted in the major health risks among rural Indian women (Patel et al., 2013).

Results and Discussion:-
939 The data regarding awareness about nutritional management of anaemia among the study participants was illustrated in the Table-2 in which the observations shows that about 52.7% women were aware that anaemia can be treated with the consumption of iron rich food and this percentage were improved (91.3%) after the exposure with awareness documentary. Among the selected women only 17.8% women were aware that vitamin C helps in the absorption of iron in the body, but after the education the response for the same has been significantly improved i.e. 56.5%. Most of the rural women were unaware about the iron rich foods (59.8%) and vitamin C rich foods (61%). But after the nutritional awareness program, the response regarding the both has been significantly improved i.e. 93.5% and 94.8% respectively. The observations shows that rural women were aware about role of iron rich food in treating anaemia and the iron rich foods into some extent but most of them were unaware regarding role of vitamin C in the iron absorption and the novel food sources of vitamin C. so this condition may leads to low level of serum iron due to poor absorption in the intestine even in the presence of iron rich foods in the daily diet (Pareek et al.,  2015). The data regarding awareness about indigenous food processing practices among the selected respondents were collected and gathered in the Table-3. The observations shows that only 22.2% rural women were aware about different indigenous food processing practices, but after the education program the response for the same has been significantly improved i.e. 76%. The correct response for nutritional benefits of the indigenous food processing practices was given only by 21.2% women before the nutritional awareness program but after the awareness it was 78.5%. Most of the rural women were unaware about the different foods prepared by using indigenous food processing practices (50.3%) and role of indigenous food products in obtaining household food security (85.5%).
After the health and nutrition education program, the response for the both has been significantly improved i.e. 95.2% and 62.3% respectively. The obtained data revealed that most of rural population was unaware about the term indigenous food processing methods and their nutritional benefits (FAO, 2009), (FAO, 2013).

Conclusion:-
Based on the obtained data it can be concluded that among the selected respondents, women are aware about the term anaemia (47.7%) more than the symptoms (19%), preventive measures (41%) and treatment of anaemia (38.5%) while they were also aware about impotence of iron rich foods in the treatment of anaemia (52.7%) but having low level of awareness regarding iron and vitamin C rich foods (40.2% and 39% respectively). Most of the rural women were unaware about indigenous food and related processing techniques (22.2%) and very low level of awareness were recorded about the concept of food security and related aspects (7.8%). After the exposure with the health and nutrition education program, the response for each question has been significantly improved and this will may leads to better health and healthy life of the selected respondents.

Recommendation:-
It can be concluded from the above study that educational intervention, if given in right manner, can bring out positive changes in its true sense & can modify or change the lives of people. This holds true more for the younger population as they are the future men & women who would promote growth & development of our nation.