Food Environment Lens: Exploring Mothers’ Perspectives and the Dietary Landscape of (Agro)-Pastoral Children in Kenya’s Drylands

This study compared the dietary diversity and food variety scores of children under 5 years of age from different ethnic groups in Marsabit County, Northern Kenya. Mothers' explanations for their children's food choices related to characteristics of their personal food environment, such as accessibility, affordability, convenience, healthiness and food acceptance. Their reasons for choosing or not choosing certain foods differed markedly between the Saku highlands and Laisamis lowlands. This highlights the importance of contextual factors in determining their practices. Such knowledge is essential when designing interventions to improve sustainable and healthy diets, so that they are truly applicable by the targeted communities.