Food and water insecurity remain critical public health challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, affecting millions of people and hindering progress toward Sustainable Development Goals. Despite the severity of these problems, cross-country comparative data are consistent in their measurement approaches. Data were collected from the Afrobarometer survey (Round 8), conducted in 34 sub-Saharan African countries between 2019 and 2020. Participants were asked how often they had "gone without enough food to eat" and "gone without enough clean water for home use" in the past year - data analysis involved bivariate and multivariable methods. Overall, 52.1 % of participants reported experiencing food shortages at least once in the past year, while 54.5 % reported going without water. Substantial cross-country variation was observed: the proportion reporting "Always" going without food ranged from 10 % in Malawi to 0.13 % in Tanzania; in comparison, for water, it ranged from 17.8 % in Gambia to 0.58 % in Morocco. Multivariable regression revealed that males had higher odds of both food insecurity (OR=1.05, 95 % CI=1.01–1.09) and water insecurity (OR=1.11, 95 % CI=1.08–1.15) compared to females. Rural residents faced 1.21 times higher odds (95 % CI=1.17–1.26) of food insecurity and 1.31 times higher odds (95 % CI=1.27–1.36) of water insecurity than urban residents. Individuals with no formal education had 2.40 times higher odds (95 % CI=2.25–2.56) of food insecurity and 1.50 times higher odds (95 % CI=1.41–1.60) of water insecurity compared to those with post-secondary education. Those reporting very bad living conditions had 3.43 times higher odds (95 % CI=3.16–3.71) of food insecurity and 2.35 times higher odds (95 % CI=2.18–2.54) of water insecurity. A significant disparity exists in the proportion of participants experiencing food and water insecurity across countries. Our findings highlight the influence of various socioeconomic and environmental factors related to water and food insecurity, which should be prioritized in health promotion efforts in the region.
Rana et al. (Fri,) studied this question.