OC-10.3: Share of people consuming a diet of minimum diversity

Owned by Enrico Bonaiuti
May 05, 2020
2 min read

Definition: This indicator captures the percent of people in the population who are consuming a diet of minimum diversity. A person is considered to consume a diet of minimum diversity if she consumed at least five of 10 specific food groups during the previous 24 hours (day and night). The 10 food groups included in the indicator are: 1. Grains, white roots and tubers, and plantains; 2. Pulses (beans, peas and lentils); 3. Nuts and seeds (including groundnut); 4. Dairy; 5. Meat, poultry and fish; 6. Eggs; 7. Dark green leafy vegetables; 8. Other vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables; 9. Other vegetables; 10. Other fruits.

Unit of Measure: Percentage

Disaggregated by: Gender group, geographic location (national, sub-national)
Gender group: Women of reproductive age/ women 15-49 years, children 6-24 months, children 6-59 months, men 15-49 years (as comparison group)

Method of Calculation:
Step 1: Elicit the foods (and by extension food groups) consumed by individual members of the household during the previous 24 hours (day and night).
Step 2: Determine the number of people (by gender group) that have consumed at least five of 10 specific food groups during the previous 24 hours (day and night).
Step 3: Compute the indicator value using the formula below:
Share of people consuming a diet of minimum diversity=Number of people who consume atleast 5 food groupsNumber of people in the sample for which data on consumption was collected×100

Data sources: Farm and consumer households

Data collection method: Farm and consumer household surveys

Data collection and reporting responsibility: Program leader, project leader, project M&E focal point person

Data Collection and Reporting Frequency: Annual, bi-annual, baseline, mid-term, end-term.

Evidence required:
For internal evaluation or research studies: Study protocol, data collection tools, dataset, report;
For external evaluation or research studies: Request for proposals (RFP) document, final report, dataset

Rationale:

  • Dietary diversity is a key characteristic of a high quality diet with adequate micronutrient content and is thus important to ensuring the health and nutrition of the population, especially vulnerable groups such women and their children. Monitoring consumption of diets of minimum diversity among people across different gender groups, locations, and across time helps with understanding why positive changes in nutrition indicators are or are not occurring.

  • Research has validated that women of reproductive age consuming foods from five or more of the 10 food groups are more likely to consume a diet higher in micronutrient adequacy than women consuming foods from fewer than five of these food groups. So this indicator is a proxy for the somewhat complex-to-measure indicator

Comments and limitations: The aggregated crops and/or animal products with the food groups in this indicator makes it diffucult to make inference on crop-specific interventions. So interventions that are crp-specific rather than a food basket approach are urged to exercise caution before adopting this indicator.