Prevalence and risk factors for severe food insecurity and poor food consumption during a drought emergency in Ethiopia

Frequent drought emergencies have heightened nutritional concerns in Ethiopia. This cross-sectional secondary data analysis assesses prevalence and risk factors of severe food insecurity and poor food consumption in Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) households in drought-prone Ethiopia. Data was from the USAID-funded Resilience Food Security Activity baseline survey. Severe food insecurity (n=4628; multivariate n=4335) was defined as Food Insecurity Experience Scale (>7) and poor food consumption (n=4554; multivariate n=4268) was defined as Food Consumption Score (<22). Logistic regression identified risk and protective factors from sociodemographic, economic, crops/livestock, and water/sanitation/hygiene variables. Severe food insecurity prevalence was 77.79% and poor food consumption prevalence was 69.74%. Risk factors for severe food insecurity included women/girls aged 15-19 years (Adjusted OR=1.79; 95% CI: 1.36-2.34), currently pregnant (1.52; 1.17-1.96), history of pregnancy (3.46; 2.76-4.33), cash-earning work (1.35; 1.12-1.61), daily-per-capita food consumption <1.61USD (2.98; 1.91-4.66), crop-planting (1.67; 1.31-2.13), and handwashing materials (3.83; 1.92-7.63); protective factors included raising livestock/crops (0.50; 0.42-0.60) and oxen (0.34; 0.26-0.45). Risk factors for poor food consumption included female household-head (1.44; 1.15-1.81) and household-head with no education (1.46; 1.18-1.79), daily-per-capita food consumption <1.61USD (4.00; 2.58-6.21), and financial service use (2.10; 1.69-2.59); protective factors included women aged 15-19 (0.59; 0.46-0.76) and 30-49 (0.76; 0.63-0.91), currently pregnant (0.57; 0.47-0.70), history of pregnancy (0.70; 0.55-0.89), crop-planting (0.57; 0.44-0.75), raising livestock/crops (0.40; 0.34-0.48) and oxen (0.68; 0.52-0.90). This study found vulnerable PSNP groups to be households with women that are/have previously been pregnant, no education, low economic status, and lack of livestock. PSNP should tailor education towards local climate-resistant crops and prioritize the livestock market, breeding, and survivability (specifically oxen), as crop production appears insufficient to maintain food security. The dual burden of food insecurity and low food consumption threatens current and future generations, and data-driven action can help progress towards the goal of zero hunger in Ethiopia.