Author/Authors :
Behzadifar, Meysam Department of Epidemiology - Faculty of Health - Student Research Commitee - Ilam University of Medical Sciences , Behzadifar, Masoud Health Management and Economics Research Center - Iran University of Medical Sciences , Abdi, Shadi Department of Health - Faculty of Health and Nutrition - Student Research Commitee - Lorestan University of Medical Sciences , Arab Salmani, Masoumeh Digestive Diseases Research Institute - Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Ghoreishinia, Gholamreza Department of Epidemiology - Faculty of Health - Zahedan University of Medical Sciences , Falahi, Ebrahim Department of Epidemiology - Faculty of Health - Zahedan University of Medical Sciences , Mirzaei, Masoud Department of Oper- ating Room - Faculty of Paramedical - Zahedan University of Medical Sciences , Shams Biranvand, Nabi Department of Health - Faculty of Health and Nutrition - Student Research Commitee - Lorestan University of Medical Sciences , Sayehmiri, Kourosh Department of Health - Faculty of Health and Nutrition - Lorestan University of Medical Sciences
Abstract :
BACKGROUND: Food security is one of the main factors of individual and social health. It is of such importance that the World Bank and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced it as one of the Millennium Development Goals. This study aimed to report the prevalence of food insecurity in Iran.
METHODS: We searched English databases including; Scopus, Ovid, Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar and also Iranian databases; SID, Magiran and IranMedex for words Iran, food insecurity, and prevalence up to August 2015. The pooled food insecurity prevalence was calculated using Der-Simonian test. All analyses were performed using random effects model with 95% CI. We assessed heterogeneity of the studies using sub-group and meta-regression analyses.
RESULTS: A total of 31 studies were included. The prevalence of food insecurity was 49% among households (95% CI: %40–%59), 67% in children (95% CI: %63–%70), 61% in mothers (95% CI: %35–%88), 49% in adolescents (95% CI: %33–%66) and 65% in the elderly (95% CI: %44–%86).
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of food insecurity is high in Iran. Fiscal policies should promote the nutritional knowledge of household members and also support the households to meet their nutritional needs. This plan should give priority to mid and low socioeconomic groups.
Keywords :
nutrition , meta-analysis , Iran , Food insecurity
