From the Chief Editor's Desk

Medical journals are a credible source of disseminating research and innovations, and Launching a medical journal is a challenging task. Many medical science journals are establishing a platform to publish quality research but still the task is tough and requires perseverance and hard work. Shalamar Medical and Dental College (SMDC) Lahore, strives to promote a culture of research. As part of this initiative, SMDC had launched ‘Medical Journal of Sakina Begum Institute’, but publication of the second volume was delayed due to the pandemic. Moreover, the name of the journal had to be changed due to some administrative issues. However, the committed editorial team was successful in bringing efforts for the latest issue to fruition.

Food Security and Hygiene Conditions Among Farmer and Non-Farmer Rural Households of Punjab, Pakistan

Pakistan is food self-sufficient especially Punjab which is leading producer of major food crops in Pakistan. Despite the fact that Punjab is leading producer of food, a considerable portion of its population is reported food insecure in previous studies especially in rural areas where food is actually being produced. Different percentages of food insecure population/households are reported, this difference is due to the measuring instruments used to assess food security status. Food security is a multifaceted issue and have different aspects like availability, accessibility and utilization. No single indicator of food security can take into account all the aspects of food security.There is need to measure food security using multiple methods simultaneously to get a clearer picture of food security status. Also, the aspect of hygiene was largely ignored by previous studies. This study aimed at examining food security and hygiene conditions among farmer and non-farmer rural households of the Punjab, Pakistan. Three measurement methods i.e. DIA (Dietary Intake Assessment), HFIAS (Household Food Insecurity Access Scale) and HDDS (Household Dietary Diversity Score) were used to measure food security status of the households. An index was created containing 4 components (i.e. water, food, personal and household hygiene) to measure hygiene.Primary data was collected from three regions of the Punjab (i.e. North, Central and South Punjab). Two districts from each region were selected randomly and then one Tehsil was selected from each of the selected districts. Four villages from each selected Tehsils were selected randomly and a sample of 24 households (12 farmer and 12 non-farmer) were selected from each village randomly. This made an overall sample of 576 households. An interview schedule was used for data collection. Results of all three measuring methods showed that farmer households are more food secure than non-farmer households. According to DIA, 38.9% farmer and 45.5% non-farmer households were food insecure, according to HFIAS, 45.1% farmer and 51.7% non-farmer households were food insecure and according to HDDS, 57.3% farmer and 65.3% non-farmer households were food insecure. South Punjab was found the most food insecure region followed by Central Punjab and North Punjab was comparatively the most food region. Prevalence of food insecurity varied for each measuring method but pattern was same. A strong correlation between three measuring methods was found. Family structure, family size, income, education and age of household head, dependency ratio and ownership of livestock were found significant determinants of food security status of farmer and non-farmer households. The importance of these determinants varied for farmer and non-farmer households. On average farmer households had better hygiene status. Income, education of household head and age of household head were found significant for hygiene status of households. Hygiene and prevalence of diarrhea were also found significant.