Food availability, apparent food insecurity risk and nutritional status in a Sahelian rural setting in Burkina Faso = Disponibilités alimentaires, niveaux de risque apparent et état nutritionnel en milieu rural sahélien burkinabè

Our research was undertaken in a province in the East Burkina Faso, to investigate similarities or disparities between food vulnerability as assessed on a territorial basis through apparent risk levels, food vulnerability as measured by in-depth information on its determinants, and the nutritional status of the inhabitants. Methods: Indicators on climatic or geographical constraints and on environment management were gathered in each of the 280 villages of the province. They allowed us to define foui areas according to the severity and repeatability of food risks. Repeated cross-sectional surveys were carried out on a randomly selected sample of 180 “collective dwelling unit?’ (CDUs or compounds) in 30 villages, including 600 households and 5400 people. The data collected encompassed social, demographical and economic characteristics, management of the last seasonal food shortage, assessment of cereal availabilities, and standardized anthropometric measures. The nutritional indices used were the body mass index (BMI) for adults, the age-adjusted BMI for adolescents (10-20 y),.and the weight-forage Z-score (WAZ) for O-9 year old children. -_..