Complementary feeding and breastfeeding practices in a rural community of Lebanon -

Abstract

The rapid rise in food prices that was witnessed after the Global Food Crisis in 2008 has increased the burden of food insecurity in countries of the region, especially in rural communities. Amongst the most vulnerable population groups to the adverse health effects of food insecurity are children below 2 years of age. The period spanning over the first 2 years of life is in fact referred to as a “critical window of opportunity”, and nutritional insults during this period of life are suggested to have long lasting and far reaching ramifications on the health of the growing child. The WHO has also recognized that early infant nutrition constitutes an important predictor of health in later years, emphasizing that adequate breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices do not only modulate the functional development of an infant, but also appear to play an essential role in lifelong programming of disease risk. The objectives of the present study are to investigate the breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices along with the nutritional status of infants and young children in one of the main rural areas of Lebanon, the Beqaa valley, an area that has been characterized by high poverty rates. The proposed study also aims at identifying environmental barriers to infant food security in this area of Lebanon. This is a cross-sectional study where 150 mother-child pairs were recruited from various villages in the Beqaa. In each village, a convenience sampling approach was followed for the recruitment of participants (mother-infant pairs) and was based on consecutive household sampling. Anthropometric data were collected from the mother and her child and a detailed questionnaire covering socio-demographic, dietary and lifestyle characteristics was administered to the mother in an interview setting. Household food security was assessed by the HFIAS. More than half of the households were found to be food insecure according to the HFIAS, with varying degrees of severity. Money related problem