Food availability, accessibility and dietary practices during the COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-country survey.
Public Health Nutr
; 24(7): 1798-1805, 2021 05.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1118771
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate the perceived effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown measures on food availability, accessibility, dietary practices and strategies used by participants to cope with these measures.DESIGN:
We conducted a cross-sectional multi-country online survey between May and July 2020. We used a study-specific questionnaire mainly based on the adaptation of questions to assess food security and coping strategies from the World Food Programme's 'Emergency Food Security Assessment' and 'The Coping Strategy Index'.SETTING:
The questionnaire was hosted online using Google Forms and shared using social media platforms.PARTICIPANTS:
A total of 1075 adult participants from eighty-two countries completed the questionnaire.RESULTS:
As a prelude to COVID-19 lockdowns, 62·7 % of the participants reported to have stockpiled food, mainly cereals (59·5 % of the respondents) and legumes (48·8 %). An increase in the prices of staples, such as cereals and legumes, was widely reported. Price increases have been identified as an obstacle to food acquisition by 32·7 % of participants. Participants reported having lesser variety (50·4 %), quality (30·2 %) and quantity (39·2 %) of foods, with disparities across regions. Vulnerable groups were reported to be facing some struggle to acquire adequate food, especially people with chronic diseases (20·2 %), the elderly (17·3 %) and children (14·5 %). To cope with the situation, participants mostly relied on less preferred foods (49 %), reduced portion sizes (30 %) and/or reduced the number of meals (25·7 %).CONCLUSIONS:
The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted food accessibility and availability, altered dietary practices and worsened the food insecurity situation, particularly in the most fragile regions.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Communicable Disease Control
/
Global Health
/
Diet
/
Food Security
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Public Health Nutr
Journal subject:
Nutritional Sciences
/
Public Health
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S1368980021000987
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