Survey data on income, food security, and dietary behavior among women and children from households of differing socio-economic status in urban and peri-urban areas of Nairobi, Kenya.

This article describes data collected to analyze consumer behaviors in vulnerable populations by examining key access constraints to nutritious foods among households of differing socio-economic status in urban and peri­urban areas of Nairobi, Kenya. The key variables studied include wealth status, food security, and dietary behavior indicators at individual and household level. Household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS), livelihood coping strategies (LCS), food expenditure share (FES), food consumption score (FCS), household dietary diversity score (HDDS), minimum dietary diversity-women(MDD-W), and child dietary diversity score (CDDS) indicators were used to measure food security. Household assets were used to develop an asset-based wealth index that grouped the study sample population into five wealth quantiles, while income levels were used to estimate FES. The hypothesis that guided the cross-sectional survey conducted to generate these data is that vulnerability to food insecurity and poverty are important drivers of food choice that influence household and individual dietary behavior. Data from this study was thus used to assess direction and strength of association between; household food insecurity, wealth status, women, children, and household dietary behavior in both urban and peri­urban populations sampled.

Evolutionary insights of Bean common mosaic necrosis virus and Cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus.

Plant viral diseases are one of the major limitations in legume production within sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), as they account for up to 100% in production losses within smallholder farms. In this study, field surveys were conducted in the western highlands of Kenya with viral symptomatic leaf samples collected. Subsequently, next-generation sequencing was carried out to gain insights into the molecular evolution and evolutionary relationships of Bean common mosaic necrosis virus (BCMNV) and Cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus (CABMV) present within symptomatic common bean and cowpea. Eleven near-complete genomes of BCMNV and two for CABMV were obtained from western Kenya. Bayesian phylogenomic analysis and tests for differential selection pressure within sites and across tree branches of the viral genomes were carried out. Three well-supported clades in BCMNV and one supported clade for CABMNV were resolved and in agreement with individual gene trees. Selection pressure analysis within sites and across phylogenetic branches suggested both viruses were evolving independently, but under strong purifying selection, with a slow evolutionary rate. These findings provide valuable insights on the evolution of BCMNV and CABMV genomes and their relationship to other viral genomes globally. The results will contribute greatly to the knowledge gap involving the phylogenomic relationship of these viruses, particularly for CABMV, for which there are few genome sequences available, and inform the current breeding efforts towards resistance for BCMNV and CABMV.