Food Consumption and Vitamin A Status survey 2009

Zambia, 2009

Reference ID

ZMB_2009_FCVASS_v01_M_v01_A_ESS

Producer(s)

Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), HarvestPlus

Metadata

Documentation in PDF DDI/XML JSON

Study website

Created on

Sep 28, 2026

Last modified

Sep 28, 2026

Identification

Survey ID number

ZMB_2009_FCVASS_v01_M_v01_A_ESS

Title

Food Consumption and Vitamin A Status survey 2009

Abbreviation or Acronym

FCVASS 2009

Country

Name	Country code
Zambia	ZMB

Study type

Individual Food Consumption/Dietary Survey [hh/ifcs]

Abstract

Reliable estimates of population vitamin A status and dietary intake patterns are critical for designing appropriate interventions to correct dietary deficiencies. The fortification of select food products with vitamin A (i.e., margarine, sugar) has already been implemented in Zambia, while the fortification of maize flour and the biofortification of maize or other staple food crops with vitamin A and other micronutrients are being considered as additional strategies. The potential for these strategies to improve vitamin A intakes will partly depend on access to and consumption of these products by those at greatest risk of deficiency. These factors also require quantification.

HarvestPlus in collaboration with the National Food and Nutrition Commission (Lusaka, Zambia) and the Tropical Diseases Research Centre (Ndola, Zambia) undertook a comprehensive background nutritional survey in rural Zambia to provide information on the potential impact of provitamin A biofortified maize.

The main goal of this survey was to obtain adequate background nutritional information among preschool children in Zambia; in order to assess the potential impact of food-based interventions to improve vitamin A status, including provitamin A biofortified maize.

Kind of Data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Unit of Analysis

Individuals

Scope

Notes

The survey collected information on:

SUBJECTS: information on the participants such as age, sex and geographical location.
CONSUMPTION: information on all foods consumed by each participant in each survey day, including quantities and nutrient values.
The population groups covered in the survey were children 6-59 months old and women of reproductive age.

Coverage

Geographic Coverage

Sub-national coverage, only rural areas.

Producers and sponsors

Primary investigators

Name
Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), HarvestPlus

Producers

Name
National Food and Nutrition Commission of Zambia
Tropical Diseases Research Centre (Zambia)

Sampling

Sampling Procedure

Clusters were represented by standard enumeration areas (EAs) defined for the Population and Housing 2000 Census and were randomly selected from a list of all standard enumeration areas in the selected districts.

In each EA, households with a resident child 24-59 months of age and an adult female caregiver were identified, and a subset of these households was randomly selected to participate. If multiple eligible children resided in the household, one was randomly selected to participate. Severely malnourished (i.e. weight-for-age or weight-for-height Z-score, 23) or severely anaemic (Hb, 7.0 g/dl) children were excluded.

Weighting

No survey weights were used in this survey.

Data collection

Dates of Data Collection

Start	End
2009-05-01	2009-12-30

Data Collection Mode

Face-to-face [f2f]

Data Collectors

Name	Affiliation
HarvestPlus	Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
National Food and Nutrition Commission of Zambia
Tropical Diseases Research Centre (Zambia)

Data Collection Notes

Data collection was performed with quantitative individual interactive 24-hour recalls. Picture charts were used to help track foods consumed during the period of recall.

Dietary information was recorded on a 24-hr recall and recipe data collection form. Separate forms were used for each individual in the household (reference child, younger sibling and the caretaker). Interviews were conducted on weekend days and weekdays to take into account day-of-the week effects on dietary intakes. A repeat survey was conducted in the same households during the lean period to obtain information on the within-subject variation of nutrient intakes.

Dietary intake data were entered by trained staff members familiar with the 24-hour recall methodology into CSDietary, a software program designed by HarvestPlus and Serpro Inc. (Santiago, Chile) specifically for this purpose. The CSDietary program enables conversion of portion size data to gram weight equivalents and calculates energy and nutrient intake data for each food and ingredient consumed.

access_policy

Confidentiality

Is signing of a confidentiality declaration required?	Confidentiality declaration text
yes	The users shall not take any action with the purpose of identifying any individual entity (i.e. person, household, enterprise, etc.) in the micro dataset(s). If such a disclosure is made inadvertently, no use will be made of the information, and it will be reported immediately to FAO.

Access conditions

Micro datasets disseminated by FAO shall only be allowed for research and statistical purposes. Any user which requests access working for a commercial company will not be granted access to any micro dataset regardless of their specified purpose. Users requesting access to any datasets must agree to the following minimal conditions:
- The micro dataset will only be used for statistical and/or research purposes;
- Any results derived from the micro dataset will be used solely for reporting aggregated information, and not for any specific individual entities or data subjects;
- The users shall not take any action with the purpose of identifying any individual entity (i.e. person, household, enterprise, etc.) in the micro dataset(s). If such a disclosure is made inadvertently, no use will be made of the information, and it will be reported immediately to FAO;
- The micro dataset cannot be re-disseminated by users or shared with anyone other than the individuals that are granted access to the micro dataset by FAO.

Citation requirements

Tropical Diseases Research Centre (TDRC: Ndola, Zambia); National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC: Lusaka, Zambia); HarvestPlus, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Zambia, 2009, The 2009 Food consumption and Vitamin A status survey in Zambia

Disclaimer and copyrights

Disclaimer

The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.

Contacts

Name	Affiliation	Email
Food and Nutrition Division	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations	fao-who-gift@fao.org

Metadata production

DDI Document ID

DDI_ZMB_2009_FCVASS_v01_M_v01_A_ESS_FAO

Producers

Name	Abbreviation	Affiliation	Role
Food and Nutrition Division	ESN	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations	Metadata producer
Statistics Division	ESS	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations	Metadata adapted for FAM
Development Data Group	DECDG	World Bank Group	Metadata adapted for World Bank Microdata Library

Metadata version

DDI Document version

Identical to a metadata (ZMB_2009_FCVASS_v01_M_v01_A_ESS) published on FAO microdata repository (https://microdata.fao.org/index.php/catalog). Some of the metadata fields have been edited.

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