Household Food Insecurity among Indigenous Communities in Sarawak, Malaysia: Predictors and Coping Strategies

Food insecurity prevails in people at all phases of their life course and causes remarkable health, social, and financial repercussions. In Sarawak state, Malaysia, information regarding household food insecurity is limited.

The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of household food insecurity, together with its predictors and coping strategies among the Sarawak indigenous communities.

This cross-sectional study was conducted among 953 Indigenous households (women) located in six districts throughout Sarawak using multistage sampling. Interviewer-administrated questionnaires were used. Simple and multiple logistic regressions were employed to draw inferences.

The prevalence of food insecurity was 42.2%. Large household size (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =1.57 [1.04-2.45]), hardcore poor (AOR = 12.26 [5.07-29.65]), and absolute poor families (AOR = 3.01 [1.76-5.15]), recipient of financial assistance (AOR = 1.94 [1.27, 2.96]), no savings (AOR = 1.63 [1.08-2.46]), increased resource loss (AOR = 1.004 [1.001-1.008]), and employment of coping strategies (AOR = 3.78 [2.50-5.72]) were significantly related to a higher risk of household food insecurity. High level of perceived social support (AOR = 0.73 [0.58-0.93]), optimism (AOR = 0.91 [0.86-0.96]), and general perceived self-efficacy (AOR = 0.88 [0.85-0.91]) among respondents were protective against household food insecurity.

Nearly half of the Indigenous households faced food insecurity in the current study. The findings suggest that incessant effort by pertinent stakeholders is warranted via diverse strategies to enhance the socioeconomic status and nutrition intervention programs that incorporate components of perceived social support, optimism, and perceived general self-efficacy to mitigate the level of food insecurity among the Sarawak Indigenous communities.