Abstract

Fruits and vegetables (F&Vs) are an essential food group for humans and prevent non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The objective of this study is to know the level of consumption of F&Vs by health professionals in Ouagadougou and their determinants. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from May to August 2016 in the Central Region of Burkina Faso. It included 442 health workers according to cluster sampling. Data collection tools consisted of frequency of food consumption of fruits and vegetables.  The results showed that the level of F&Vs consumption among health professionals is very low. Only 11.5% of respondents consumed fruits every day and 21.8% did the same for vegetables and 1.4% of health professionals consumed more than five servings of F&Vs per day. Only 1.6% of health professionals surveyed had sufficient knowledge of the functions of F&Vs, and 85.8% were not aware of the recommendations of World Health Organizations regarding the consumption of F&Vs. Gender, distance from the fruit supply, and average monthly financial income were associated with the irregularity of the fruit consumption at the threshold of 5% in the univariate analysis. However, in the multivariate analysis, gender, profession, distance from fruit supply and average monthly financial income were predictive of irregular fruit consumption. The level of F&Vs consumption in health professionals is low, as is their level of knowledge of the functions of F&Vs.

Key words: Burkina Faso, consumption, determinants, fruits and vegetables, health professionals.