Food security and nutritional outcomes of urban poor orphaned children in Nairobi, Kenya

Elizabeth W Kimani-Murage, University of the Witwatersrand

The study aims to inform policies and practices geared towards improving the welfare of orphaned children in urban poor areas with regard to food security and nutritional status. It uses data from a World Bank funded project conducted by the African Population and Health Research Centre in 2007 in two slums of Nairobi. The findings showed that orphans living in urban poor households are more vulnerable than their non-orphan counterparts to issues of food security, but not nutritional status as measured by height and weight for age. Paternal orphans were the most vulnerable compared to other orphans. Other factors associated with vulnerability were age and gender of the child, household economic status and size, location of slum of residence, and, to a lesser extent education of the household head. The differential effects of these factors suggest possible points for intervention and support to improve nutritional status of urban poor children.