标题：Fish Consumption, Dietary Diversity and Nutritional Status of Reproductive Age Women of Fishing and Non-Fishing Households in Hawassa, Ethiopia Comparative Cross Sectional Study
摘要：Malnutrition is one of the public health problems in Ethiopia. Households relying on fishing for their livelihoods are assumed to consume more fish than none fish producing households. Thus, fish producing households are expected to have better nutritional status compared to none fish producing households. However, this assumption is not well studied and there is limited evidence about the consumption and the nutritional outcomes of fishing in and around Hawassa city. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine and compare fish consumption, dietary diversity and nutritional status of reproductive aged women from fishing and non-fishing households in Hawassa. A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 804 reproductive age women both from fishing and non-fishing households. Women from fishing households were selected by purposive sampling technique and from non-fishing households’ simple random sampling were used. Data were collected by personal interview using structured and pre-tested questionnaire. Levels of fish consumption were determined from reported frequency by the participants. Household food security status was assessed using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). Minimum dietary diversity and Body Mass Index (BMI) were determined to assess nutritional status. Data were entered, cleaned and analyzed by using SPSS version 22. Statistical significance was declared at p=0.05. The result shows that women in fishing households were consuming fish more frequently than from none fishing households (p<0.001). In addition, women in the fishing households had better household food security status compared with non fishing households (p <0.001). There was no statistical significant difference in terms of Body Mass Index (p=0.571) among reproductive age women of fishing and non-fishing households. However, the reproductive age women in the fishing households had greater minimum dietary diversity score than non fishing households (p <0.001). The finding indicated that reproductive age women from fishing households had better fish consumption; household food security and minimum dietary diversity. This shows that fishing contributed to food and nutrition security. Thus, it is important to promote fish production and consumption in the study area.
关键词：Fish consumption; Household food security; Livelihood; Nutritional status; Reproductive age women
