Gender and Food insecurity in the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: hunger through women's voices. / Gênero e Insegurança alimentar na pandemia de COVID-19 no Brasil: a fome na voz das mulheres.

This paper presents the results of the research nested in the international project "Gender and COVID-19", which includes several topics related to the impact of the pandemic on the lives of women and their families, including food insecurity and hunger. Semi-structured interviews were conducted from December 2020 to November 2021 with 49 women living in two urban conglomerates, Cabana do Pai Tomás (Belo Horizonte, MG) and Sapopemba (São Paulo, SP), and two rural quilombola communities, Córrego do Rocha (Chapada do Norte, MG) and Córrego do Narciso (Araçuaí, MG). The analyses were based on the following categories: hunger-related feelings and terms; reduced food amount and quality; lack of food and nutrients; difficulties producing food, receiving emergency aid or food donations; governments evaluation and support networks. The respondents' reports show the challenges they experienced, their coping methods, and criticism of the government's lack of responses. Besides presenting a gender perspective, women, especially the leaders who worked in the construction of solidarity networks, are fundamental voices in planning actions to prevent and mitigate the impacts of emergencies in their communities.

Neste artigo apresentamos resultados de uma pesquisa que integra o projeto internacional "Gender and COVID-19", que contempla diversos temas relacionados aos impactos da pandemia na vida de mulheres e suas famílias, entre eles a insegurança alimentar e a fome. Foram feitas entrevistas semiestruturadas entre dezembro de 2020 e novembro de 2021 com 49 mulheres, moradoras de dois aglomerados urbanos, Cabana do Pai Tomás (Belo Horizonte, MG) e Sapopemba (São Paulo, SP), e de duas comunidades rurais quilombolas, Córrego do Rocha (Chapada do Norte, MG) e Córrego do Narciso (Araçuaí, MG). As análises foram baseadas nas seguintes categorias: sentimentos e termos relacionados à fome; redução na quantidade e qualidade de alimentos; ausência de alimento e nutrientes; dificuldades para produzir alimento, receber auxílio emergencial e/ou doação de alimentos; avaliação dos governos e redes de apoio. Os relatos das entrevistadas evidenciam os desafios vivenciados, suas formas de enfrentamento e críticas à falta de respostas dos governos. Além de apresentarem uma perspectiva de gênero, as mulheres, em especial as lideranças que atuaram na construção de redes de solidariedade, são vozes fundamentais no planejamento de ações de prevenção e mitigação dos impactos de situações emergenciais em suas comunidades.

The Prevalence and Determinants of Child Hunger and Its Associations with Early Childhood Nutritional Status among Urban Poverty Households during COVID-19 Pandemic in Petaling District, Malaysia: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Survey.

Child hunger was prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the extent, determinants, and impact on pre-school children aged 6 months to 7 years old from Malaysian urban poor households are still unknown. This exploratory cross-sectional study was performed between July 2020 and January 2021 at the Lembah Subang People Housing Project, Petaling. The households' food security status was assessed using the previously validated Radimer/Cornell questionnaire, and the children's anthropometric measurements were taken. Food diversity score was assessed using the World Health Organization Infant and Young Children Feeding (under-2 children) or Food and Agriculture Organization Women's Dietary Diversity (2-year-old-and-above children) systems. Overall, 106 households were recruited. The prevalence of child hunger is 58.4% (95% CI: 50.0, 67.4). Significant differences were found in breastfeeding and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption between under-2 and ≥2-year-old children. There were no significant differences between child hunger and other food-insecure groups in weight-for-age, height-for-age, and weight-for-height z-scores. Only a higher dietary diversity score was significantly protective against child hunger after adjusting for maternal age, paternal employment status, and the number of household children (ORadjusted: 0.637 (95% CI: 0.443, 0.916), p = 0.015)). Proactive strategies are warranted to reduce child hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic by improving childhood dietary diversity.

Not only COVID-19. Not only Ukraine. Under-reported hunger crises in the Horn of Africa and the politics around them.

Funding requirements for humanitarian needs have reached a record high, driven by Ukraine's war, other conflicts worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change-related disasters, economic slowdown, and their combined global consequences. More people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and more are forcibly displaced than ever before, the majority of them from countries facing acute food insecurity. The largest global food crisis in modern history is unfolding. Particularly, in the Horn of Africa, levels of hunger are alarmingly high, with countries edging close to famine. This article discusses why and how famine, which had declined in frequency and lethality, is resurging, using Somalia and Ethiopia as 'mini case studies', emblematic as they are of a broader trend. Technical and political aspects of food crises and their consequences on health are analysed. The article examines some of the most contentious issues around famine: the data challenges for declaring it and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. The article concludes with the claim that the elimination of famine is possible, but only through political action. Humanitarians can warn of an impending crisis and mitigate some of its consequences, but they are powerless in the face of an ongoing famine, like those described in Somalia and Ethiopia.

Socio-demographic factors associated with hunger among food pantry users in Eastern Massachusetts.

To assess the determinants of hunger among food pantry users, the present study used a cross-sectional survey that included a modified Household Hunger Scale to quantify hunger. Mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship between hunger categories and various household socio-demographic and economic characteristics, such as age, race, household size, marital status and experience of any economic hardship. The survey was administered to food pantry users from June 2018 to August 2018 at various food pantries across Eastern Massachusetts with 611 food pantry users completing the questionnaire at any of the 10 food pantry sites. One-fifth (20⋅13 %) of food pantry users experienced moderate hunger and 19⋅14 % experienced severe hunger. Food pantry users who were single, divorced or separated; had less than a high school education; working part-time, unemployed or retired; or, who earned incomes less than $1000 per month were most likely to experience severe or moderate hunger. Pantry users who experienced any economic hardship had 4⋅78 the adjusted odds of severe hunger (95 % CI 2⋅49, 9⋅19), which was much larger than the odds of moderate hunger (AOR 1⋅95; 95 % CI 1⋅10, 3⋅48). Younger age and participation in WIC (AOR 0⋅20; 95 % CI 0⋅05-0⋅78) and SNAP (AOR 0⋅53; 95 % CI 0⋅32-0⋅88) were protective against severe hunger. The present study illustrates factors affecting hunger in food pantry users, which can help inform public health programmes and policies for people in need of additional resources. This is essential particularly in times of increasing economic hardships recently exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reducing Caregiver Hunger During Pediatric Hospitalization.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pediatric hospitalizations are costly, stressful events for families. Many caregivers, especially those with lower incomes, struggle to afford food while their child is hospitalized. We sought to decrease the mean percentage of caregivers of Medicaid-insured and uninsured children who reported being hungry during their child's hospitalization from 86% to <24%. METHODS: Our quality improvement efforts took place on a 41-bed inpatient unit at our large, urban academic hospital. Our multidisciplinary team included physicians, nurses, social workers, and food services leadership. Our primary outcome measure was caregiver-reported hunger; we asked caregivers near to the time of discharge if they experienced hunger during their child's hospitalization. Plan-do-study-act cycles addressed key drivers: awareness of how to obtain food, safe environment for families to seek help, and access to affordable food. An annotated statistical process control chart tracked our outcome over time. Data collection was interrupted because of the COVID-19 pandemic; we used that time to advocate for hospital-funded support for optimal and sustainable changes to caregiver meal access. RESULTS: We decreased caregiver hunger from 86% to 15.5%. A temporary test of change, 2 meal vouchers per caregiver per day, resulted in a special cause decrease in the percentage of caregivers reporting hunger. Permanent hospital funding was secured to provide cards to purchase 2 meals per caregiver per hospital day, resulting in a sustained decrease in rates of caregiver hunger. CONCLUSIONS: We decreased caregivers' hunger during their child's hospitalization. Through a data-driven quality improvement effort, we implemented a sustainable change allowing families to access enough food.

Hunger in French Guiana's Vulnerable Urban Neighborhoods: A Neglected Consequence of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: In French Guiana, restrictions to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 were put in place between March 2020 and March 2022. In vulnerable urban neighborhoods, during this period, requests for food assistance increased and fear of hunger overtook fear of being affected by COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this survey was to describe food security during the COVID-19 pandemic in French Guiana and to study the relationship between the socioeconomic conditions of the study households and household hunger. METHODS: A multicenter survey was therefore conducted in mobile clinics and fixed structures providing care to at-risk urban populations. In a face-to-face interview, a community health worker asked participants questions about the sociodemographic and economic profile of the household, and about household food security (food consumption score, coping strategies in the face of food shortages, and household hunger index). Two hundred seventy-seven households were recruited in February 2021. RESULTS: According to the household hunger scale, 42.6% of households experienced moderate hunger and 23.8% of households experienced severe hunger in the month preceding the survey. Lack of residence permit, lack of social support, water insecurity, small housing, and lack of access to an urban garden were determinants related to the risk of household hunger. CONCLUSIONS: Food insecurity has affected a large majority of the households in this survey, and the immediate consequences for children's health were already apparent. These results draw attention to a neglected health problem in a socioeconomically vulnerable population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The influence of the nutrients consumed by health workers during the period of COVID-19 pandemic on hedonic hunger.

Objective: To examine the effects of macro- and micro-nutrient intake of health workers on hedonic hunger. METHODS: The descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at Kahramanmaras Necip Fazil City Hospital, Turkey, from May to December 2021, and comprised all types of healthcare professionals of either gender aged >18 years. Data was collected using a 22-question survey form to record three-day food consumption, and the Power of Food Scale. Data was analysed using SPSS 22. RESULTS: Of the 516 participants, 255(49.4%) were males and 261(50.6%) were females. The overall mean age was 41.28±7.598 years. Body mass indiex was the only factor significantly associated with hedonic hunger (p<0.05), while gender, age, meal-skipping status, the most skipped meal, and the occupational status had no such association (p>0.05). Nurses consumed high-energy macronutrients (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Overweight health professionals were found to have the highest rate of hedonic hunger, while nurses' consumption of high-energy macronutrients was signficantly higher.

Global Hunger.

A result of war, COVID-19, and climate change.

Compassion, Hunger and Animal Suffering: Scenes from Kerala, South India.

Animal narratives have not been a major part of the coronavirus pandemic other than to frame animals as "epidemic villains" whose relations with humans are either zoonotic or pathological. In this context, this article considers stories of compassion from Kerala, where activists and ordinary people started feeding stray dogs and other street animals during the state instituted lockdowns. State sanction and media coverage of feeding these hungry animals allowed them to be instated as part of a multispecies community in the pandemic, allowing them for the first time, legitimized access to food and water. Compassion was prescribed and validated on the basis of perceiving suffering synergistically or as mutually experienced during the pandemic. However, a linear history of compassion cannot be constructed as Kerala has an antagonistic relationship with street dogs framing them as violent free-ranging dogs that carry diseases and attack people. This article draws on insights gleaned from multispecies ethnography to explore the hidden everyday lives of the animals during the pandemic. It raises questions about how people come to occupy relations of care in societies where animal suffering is not acknowledged and explores the possibilities opened by the way compassion was constructed as a practical and moral value during the pandemic.

Drivers of socioeconomic inequalities of child hunger during COVID-19 in South Africa: evidence from NIDS-CRAM Waves 1-5.

BACKGROUND: Child hunger has long-term and short-term consequences, as starving children are at risk of many forms of malnutrition, including wasting, stunting, obesity and micronutrient deficiencies. The purpose of this paper is to show that the child hunger and socio-economic inequality in South Africa increased during her COVID-19 pandemic due to various lockdown regulations that have affected the economic status of the population. METHODS: This paper uses the National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM WAVES 1-5) collected in South Africa during the intense COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 to assess the socioeconomic impacts of child hunger rated inequalities. First, child hunger was determined by a composite index calculated by the authors. Descriptive statistics were then shown for the investigated variables in a multiple logistic regression model to identify significant risk factors of child hunger. Additionally, the decomposable Erreygers' concentration index was used to measure socioeconomic inequalities on child hunger in South Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic. RESULTS: The overall burden of child hunger rates varied among the five waves (1-5). With proportions of adult respondents indicated that a child had gone hungry in the past 7 days: wave 1 (19.00%), wave 2 (13.76%), wave 3 (18.60%), wave 4 (15, 68%), wave 5 (15.30%). Child hunger burden was highest in the first wave and lowest in the second wave. The hunger burden was highest among children living in urban areas than among children living in rural areas. Access to electricity, access to water, respondent education, respondent gender, household size, and respondent age were significant determinants of adult reported child hunger. All the concentrated indices of the adult reported child hunger across households were negative in waves 1-5, suggesting that children from poor households were hungry. The intensity of the pro-poor inequalities also increased during the study period. To better understand what drove socioeconomic inequalites, in this study we analyzed the decomposed Erreygers Normalized Concentration Indices (ENCI). Across all five waves, results showed that race, socioeconomic status and type of housing were important factors in determining the burden of hunger among children in South Africa. CONCLUSION: This study described the burden of adult reported child hunger and associated socioeconomic inequalities during the Covid-19 pandemic. The increasing prevalence of adult reported child hunger, especially among urban children, and the observed poverty inequality necessitate multisectoral pandemic shock interventions now and in the future, especially for urban households.

The Association between Food Insecurity and Making Hunger-Coping Trade-Offs during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Sources of Food and Easiness in Food Access.

Many individuals make financial, health and food related trade-offs to cope with the challenges of food insecurity and to meet their household needs for healthy, affordable food. A survey (n = 652) was conducted in nine rural counties in South Carolina, USA, during the COVID-19 pandemic from August 2020 to July 2021. We examine if level of food insecurity predicts hunger-coping trade-offs, and whether this relationship is moderated by easiness in food access and dependence on different food source types. Nearly one-third of the respondents experienced food insecurity. Making trade-offs between paying for food and other household expenses was common among the rural residents as on average they made nearly one type of trade-off in the past three months. The number of trade-offs was the highest among highly food insecure respondents (mean = 2.64), followed by moderately food insecure respondents (mean = 1.66); low food insecure respondents had the lowest number of trade-offs (mean = 0.39). The moderating effects of easiness in food access and dependence on food sources varied by level of food insecurity. The results show that individuals at different levels of food insecurity use different strategies to fulfill their food needs and social programs are more often utilized than personal food sources. We conclude with implications for addressing food insecurity in order to reduce the possibility of making trade-offs.

Pestilence and famine: Continuing down the vicious cycle with COVID-19.

Despite the fact that we produce enough food to feed everyone on Earth, world hunger is on the rise. On the other side of the table, the obesity crisis also weighs heavily. Malnutrition is less about food than about socioeconomic factors such as conflict, poverty, and global disasters such as climate change and the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Nutrition and infectious disease exist in an intricate dance. Adequate and balanced nutrition is critical for appropriate response to infection and any changes in the balance can serve as a tipping point for the next pandemic. On the other hand, pandemics, such as COVID-19, lead to greater malnutrition. Both over- and undernutrition increase severity of disease, alter vaccine effectiveness, and potentially create conditions for viral mutation and adaptation-further driving the disease and famine vicious cycle. These long-term health and socioeconomic repercussions have direct effects at individual and global levels and lead to long-term consequences. Therefore, investing in and strengthening public health, pandemic prevention, and nutrition programs become vital at a much more complex systems level.

Implications of COVID-19 labour market shock for child and household hungers in South Africa: Do social protection programs protect?'

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have confirmed that the COVID-19 lockdown has caused massive job losses. However, the impact of this loss on food security is not well-understood. Moreover, a paucity of evidence exists regarding social protection grants' countervailing effects against such shocks. This study examined the effects of job loss (labour income loss) on child and household hungers (our two measures food insecurity) during COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. It also ascertained whether these effect were offset by alternative social grant programs to document the protective role of the latter. DATA AND METHODS: We used South Africa's National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) and the Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (CRAM) data. These data cover a nationally representative sample of 7073 individuals. We employed a probit model to estimate the effect of job loss and receipts of various social grants on child and households' hungers. We also estimated the double-selection logit model to account for the model's uncertainty surrounding the variable selection and treatment-effects estimation using lasso (Telasso) for causal inference of our analysis. RESULTS: Our analyses showed that households exposed to a labour market shock during the pandemic experienced a significant increase in our measures of food insecurity (child and household hungers). Specifically, we found that compared with households containing employed respondents, households with respondents who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 lockdown were 5.4% more likely to report child hunger and 2.6% more likely to report household hunger in the past seven days A receipt of child support grant reduces the likelihood of reporting child hunger and household hunger by 21.7%and 16.9% respectively among these households. A receipt of old age pension grant reduces the likelihood of reporting household hunger by 24% with no significant effect on child hunger. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 lockdown resulted in unprecedent job losses with significant implications for food insecurity. Job loss due to COVID-19 lockdown significantly increased food insecurity in South Africa. Receipts of social grants effectively offset this adverse effect. The protective effect of the social grant is heterogenous across its alternative programs (child support grant and old age pension grant) and food insecurity, suggesting the differences in the size of transfers and motivations for sending these transfers.

Hunger and its associated factors in the western Brazilian Amazon: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Hunger affects millions of people worldwide. In the current pandemic scenario of coronavirus Brazil has experienced an epidemic peak of hunger, amplifying existing prepandemic vulnerabilities, mainly in the North Region of the country. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of food insecurity and its associated factors in homes with children under 5 years of age in an urban area of a municipality of the western Brazilian Amazon. METHODS: A household survey was conducted with a probabilistic sample of 557 children and their families. Food insecurity (FI) was determined using the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Associations between variables were analyzed based on the prevalence ratio (PR) and respective 95% confidence intervals (CI) calculated through multiple Poisson regression analysis. Variables with a P value < 0.05 after adjustments were considered significantly associated with the outcome. RESULTS: A prevalence of 76.5% (CI 1.36-2.67) food insecurity was found among the families in the study; 42.9% had moderate (CI 1.31-2.83) and severe (CI 1.10-1.83) food insecurity. Moderate and severe FI was associated with low family income (P = 0.00), participation in governmental income transfer programs (P = 0.01), and heads of household with less than 7 years of schooling (P = 0.02). Moreover, substantial frequencies of height deficit and being overweight were found among the children. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of hunger and food insecurity and its associated factors reflects the context of geographic isolation and social exclusion in which these families live, suggesting that a substantial portion of the population under 5 years of age had experienced episodes of hunger in the 90 days prior to the survey. The prevalence of height deficit and being overweight among the children reveals a scenario of epidemiological/nutritional polarization, requiring the formulation of specific public policies for this population.

Connected and extracted: Understanding how centrality in the global wheat supply chain affects global hunger using a network approach.

While global food trade has allowed countries to buffer against domestic food production shortfalls and gain access to larger markets, engaging in trade has also opened economies up to shocks and increased extraction of food resources. With this research, we analyze how the global grain network influences country-level nourishment, while controlling for per capita land and food production. First, we model the trade network structure of the global wheat supply chain to measure the centrality or positionality of countries. We use spatial regression analysis to assess the impact of trade networks, volume, purchasing power, production capacity and geography on undernourishment. We find that the six countries most central to the global grain trade by betweenness and eigenvector centralities account for more than half of all wheat exports globally by volume. The centrality of these countries as opposed to volume of wheat produced or traded, determines their influence in the wheat supply chain network. The parametric component of our analysis confirms that trade, and centrality have significant implications for national levels of nourishment. Our findings suggest that for countries with low purchasing power, increasing centrality allows improvements in nourishment levels but for countries with very high purchasing power, increasing centrality can increase hunger outcomes. To counteract perturbations and shortfalls such as those being experienced currently in the globalized food system, local and regional governments may consider refocusing on regional and local based food systems.

Loss of Livelihood, Wages, and Employment During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Selected Districts of Chhattisgarh in India, and Its Impact on Food Insecurity and Hunger.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the existing food insecurity in developing nations. The cumulative effect of restricted mobility to curtail the spread of the infection, loss of livelihood and income, worst affected the economically weaker sections. Our work examined the availability, accessibility, and affordability of food during the first wave of the pandemic using the FAO, HFIAS questionnaire, in a random sample (N = 401) from Kanker and Narayanpur districts in Chattisgarh, an Empowered Action Group state, in India. Total food security scores were derived by summing the individual scores. Percentages above and below the median scores were used to assess food insecurity. Proportion Z test was used to compare settings and a generalized linear model was used to determine the association between dependent and independent variables. Of the 63% non-tribal population, a greater percent experienced income loss (13.4%) and worried about not having sufficient food (40%). A significantly higher proportion from the non-tribal regions reported food scarcity in the household (34%) and experienced hunger (15%). Non-tribal participants (77%) scored ≤ median (score 8) demonstrating high food insecurity. The odds of poor food access increased in the non-tribal settings (B: 0.024, 95% CI: 0.011-0.051, P < 0.001), income between Rs. 10,000-29,000/- per month (B: 0.385, 95% CI: 0.146-1.014, P < 0.05) and among those experiencing total or partial income loss (B: 0.505, 95% CI: 0.252-1.011, P < 0.05). Urban residence increased the odds of poor food availability (B: 15.933, 95% CI: 3.473-73.096, P < 0.001). Being male (B: 0.450, 95% CI: 0.208-0.972, P < 0.05), and not experiencing income loss (B: 0.367, 95% CI: 0.139-0.969, P < 0.05) decreased the odds of poor availability and affordability (B: 0.153, 95% CI: 0.067-0.349, P < 0.001). Non-tribal setting increased the odds of poor affordability (B: 11.512, 95% CI: 5.577-23.765, P < 0.001) and hunger (B: 19.532, 95% CI: 7.705-49.515, P < 0.001). Being male (B: 0.445, 95% CI: 0.277-0.715, P < 0.05) and higher age (B: 0.936, 95% CI: 0.936-0.906, P < 0.001) decreased the odds of food insecurity as per the total food security score. While India is likely to experience multiple waves, actions urgent and targeted toward the needs of the vulnerable sections be prioritized to endure and overcome the impact of the pandemic.