Background: Food insecurity influences children nutritional status by limiting the quantity and quality of dietary intake. About 963 million people worldwide live in food insecure condition due to adverse climatic conditions, political instability or economic slowdown. The problem is exacerbated in sub-Saharan Country including Tanzania due to unpredictable climatic events, instability in conflict-ridden regions and economic difficulties. Subsequently this research aimed to determine the prevalence and level of severity of food insecurity together with the nutrition status in underfive children in Ukerewe district, Mwanza, Tanzania.
Methods: A community base cross sectional study was conducted in Ukerewe District, Mwanza from February to March 2019. A total of 295 households having at least one underfive children recruited using multistage random sampling technique. Data were analysed using statistical package for social study (SPSS) version 20.0 software.
Results: The prevalence of food insecurity was 62.7% but out of 185 households experiences food insecure, 54.6% experienced severe food insecurity. Out of 295 underfive children 12.9% were underweight, 7.2% and 5.8% were wasted and stunted respectively.
Conclusion: About two third of the respondents in this study faced food insecurity and about half of them experienced severe food insecurity. Underweight among underfive children found to be slightly higher than wasting and stunting. As majority relies on crop cultivation there is a need to develop better farming practices and encouraging other economic activities however nutrition education during antenatal clinic is also recommended.