Household food insecurity was prevalent in Java during Indonesia's economic crisis

Valid assessment of household food security is important, particularly in rapidly changing circumstances such as the economic crisis that struck Indonesia in 1998. The Cornell-Radimer tool for measuring household food security has now been used in several social and economic settings. An adaptation of this tool was used in the context of the economic crisis of Java, Indonesia in June-August 1998 in a survey of 1423 mothers with children < 5 y old. Qualitative and quantitative data contributed to understanding food insecurity and provided evidence for some aspects of validity. The data showed substantial household food insecurity with 94.2% of households found to be uncertain or insecure about their food situation in the previous year. Of respondents, 11% reported losing weight in the previous year because of lack of food. Food security in Java was undoubtedly compromised by the economic crisis. These results suggest, on the basis of qualitative and quantitative understandings of food insecurity, that this tool provided a useful measure of the situation in Java in 1998. From this study and others done recently, such a tool or ones constructed using a similar approach have been found to be useful in various settings in which there is a need to understand and identify household food insecurity for purposes of estimating and monitoring prevalence and targeting of policies and programs. Further research to validate this approach in various settings is warranted.