Gender, culture, and dietary diversity among livestock keepers in Karamoja, Uganda

Women's dietary diversity is often used as proxy for nutritional status as it has important implications for household food security. Karamoja's agriculture is mainly based on livestock production, with many ethnic groups in the region that have different beliefs and practices, the largest of those groups being the Karamojong and Pokot. This study aimed to characterize diets of women in Karamoja across the two largest ethnic groups and investigate which social factors might influence diets. The study collected data using a household questionnaire (n = 545) and the five domains of empowerment (5DE) questions (n = 95) from the validated Abbreviated Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index. A log-transformed linear logistic regression model was used for the analysis of women's dietary diversity scores with the predicted variables. Factors such as being from the Pokot ethnic group, being less mobile, having some level of education, women's access to credit, consumption of self-produced animal source foods, and having livestock as a primary source of income were all significantly associated with an increase in women's dietary diversity. There was no association between dietary diversity and any of the 5DE. Important differences in the diets of women emerged by ethnicity, with Pokot having higher consumption of milk, but lower consumption of meats and greens. Findings could be used to formulate interventions to increase dietary diversity as a pathway to improve health.