Food insecurity among refugee families in east London: Results of a pilot assessment

Daniel W. Sellen; Alison E. Tedstone; Jacqueline Frize

doi:10.1079/PHN2002340

Food insecurity among refugee families in east London: Results of a pilot assessment

Daniel W. Sellen^*, Alison E. Tedstone, Jacqueline Frize

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	637-644
Number of pages	8
Journal	Public Health Nutrition
Volume	5
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1079/PHN2002340
Publication status	Published - Dec 2002
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the participants, the London Borough of Newham (Asylum Team Health Screening Service, Health Advocacy Team, Refugee Education Team and Community Renewal Programme), Hacia el Camino and two anonymous reviewers. Maria Baumbast, Vera Beining, Aratxu Blanco, Santhi Corcoran, Elisabeth Corey, Moya Hamilton, Jill Healey, Kalix Kalialia, Yanett Lara, Saida Munye, Luljeta Nuzi and Dahir Sheik assisted and advised. The King’s Fund, Emory University Research Committee, and Halle Institute for Global Learning provided financial support.

Keywords

Albania
Asylum seekers
Brava
Child hunger
Colombia
Ecuador
Kosovo
Low income
Nutrition
Policy
Poverty
Somali
United Kingdom

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1079/PHN2002340

Cite this

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title = "Food insecurity among refugee families in east London: Results of a pilot assessment",

abstract = "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.",

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author = "Sellen, {Daniel W.} and Tedstone, {Alison E.} and Jacqueline Frize",

note = "Funding Information: We thank the participants, the London Borough of Newham (Asylum Team Health Screening Service, Health Advocacy Team, Refugee Education Team and Community Renewal Programme), Hacia el Camino and two anonymous reviewers. Maria Baumbast, Vera Beining, Aratxu Blanco, Santhi Corcoran, Elisabeth Corey, Moya Hamilton, Jill Healey, Kalix Kalialia, Yanett Lara, Saida Munye, Luljeta Nuzi and Dahir Sheik assisted and advised. The King{\textquoteright}s Fund, Emory University Research Committee, and Halle Institute for Global Learning provided financial support.",

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N2 - 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.

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Food insecurity among refugee families in east London: Results of a pilot assessment

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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