Social vulnerability, parity and food insecurity in urban South African young women: the healthy life trajectories initiative (HeLTI) study.
J Public Health Policy
; 42(3): 373-389, 2021 Sep.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1236132
ABSTRACT
Social vulnerability indices (SVI) can predict communities' vulnerability and resilience to public health threats such as drought, food insecurity or infectious diseases. Parity has yet to be investigated as an indicator of social vulnerability in young women. We adapted an SVI score, previously used by the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC), and calculated SVI for young urban South African women (n = 1584; median age 21.6, IQR 3.6 years). Social vulnerability was more frequently observed in women with children and increased as parity increased. Furthermore, young women classified as socially vulnerable were 2.84 times (95% CI 2.10-3.70; p < 0.001) more likely to report household food insecurity. We collected this information in 2018-2019, prior to the current global COVID-19 pandemic. With South Africa having declared a National State of Disaster in March 2020, early indicators suggest that this group of women have indeed been disproportionally affected, supporting the utility of such measures to inform disaster relief efforts.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Parity
/
Urban Population
/
Vulnerable Populations
/
Food Insecurity
Type of study:
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Pregnancy
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
English
Journal:
J Public Health Policy
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S41271-021-00289-8
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