Mohamed Abd alrazik Desogi^1,, Fatima Abbas Khalid², Awadia Khojali Mohamed³, Asma Mahmoud Hamza⁴, Sarah Salih Mohammed⁵, Abdualmoniem Omer Abdalla⁶, Isameldin Mustafa Mohamed⁷, Mahgoub Ali Adam¹, Abdalla Ali Mohammed³

Background: Food insecurity still a major public health problem in Sudan. This study aim to assess the effect household food insecurity - which was about 38.7% of household in the study area - on the nutritional status of children less than five years in north Kassala localities, Kassala State, eastern Sudan. Method: The study was cross-sectional including 445 household distributed in 16 villages using specially designed questionnaire. Multi-cluster random technique was used to collect data. Only HH with children under five years were included in the study. Results: Stunting, wasting and underweight were reported in 52.1%, 35.6% and 53.9% respectively. The relationship of nutrition status of children and HH food security was statistically non-significant. Conclusion: The prevalence of malnutrition among children in the study area was very high. Improving household food security may be necessary but not sufficient to improve the nutritional status. Other risk factors such as maternal education, avoiding certain types of food and controlling childhood infections must be corrected.

food security, stunting, wasting and underweight