Percepción de seguridad alimentaria y evaluación antropométrica del estado nutricional de los niños con edades entre 2 y 6 años, usuarios de la fundación Piccoli-Saggi (Bucaramanga).

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to determine the perception of food security and anthropometric assessment of the nutritional status of children between 2 and 6 years old, users of the Piccoli Saggi Foundation in Bucaramanga, Santander a non-governmental, non-profit organization whose mission is the comprehensive care of children, offering initial education and nutrition to children of mothers who are heads of household. This study is descriptive and cross-sectional and shows the perception of food security in 82 households and establishes the relationship with socio-demographic variables and anthropometric nutritional status in 82 children. The perception of food security is measured through the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA) and the software of the Public Health Observatory of Santander - Nutritional Surveillance System (SINU), based on the reference tables of the WHO and Resolution 2465 of 2016 of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, is used for the assessment of the anthropometric nutritional status. The classification of the nutritional status in children under 5 years old is established with the indicator weight for height (WL) and height for age (BMI) and for those over 5 years old the body mass index for age (BMI) and height for age (BMI). Additionally, the characterization of the population is carried out through the application of a socio-demographic survey. The results show that 54.87% of the families perceive themselves to be food insecure, a percentage very close to that reported in the ENSIN 2015 survey (54.2%). There is a relationship between food insecurity and the low economic capacity to purchase food, purchasing in local shops on a fortnightly or daily basis and middle level schooling. On the other hand, there is no direct relationship with being head of household, loss of employment or the sex of the respondent. With regard to anthropometric nutritional status, a low percentage (6.82%) of children under 5 years of age are stunted, there is no evidence of any type of malnutrition, a low percentage is observed in children over 5 years of age (2.63%) of thinness, excess weight in those over 5 years is 18.42% of which 10.53% are obese and 7.89% overweight, thus the trend in this population is very similar to that reported in the ENSIN 2015 survey, where the percentage of excess weight is greater than that of malnutrition. There is a direct relationship between food insecurity and stunting and thinness, although it is clarified that these diagnoses are multi-causal.