High prevalence of food insecurity, the adverse impact of COVID-19 in Brazilian favela.

Publisher: Cambridge University Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9808463 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1475-2727 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 13689800 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Public Health Nutr Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: <2007- > : Oxford : Cambridge University Press
Original Publication: Wallingford, Oxon, UK : Published on behalf of the Nutrition Society by CAB International, c1998-

Food Insecurity* ; Socioeconomic Factors*; COVID-19/*prevention & control ; Communicable Disease Control/*statistics & numerical data ; Food Supply/*economics; Adult ; Brazil/epidemiology ; Cities/epidemiology ; Consumer Behavior ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Family Characteristics ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Humans ; Income/statistics & numerical data ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Physical Distancing ; Prevalence ; SARS-CoV-2

Objective: To investigate food insecurity (FI) prevalence in two favelas in Brazil in the early weeks of the social distancing policy, from 27 March 2020 to 1 June 2020.
Design: A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire to elicit information on socio-economic and demographic characteristics, the types of stores visited to buy food, and FI screening. The FI experience was evaluated according to the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Factors associated with moderate or severe FI were investigated using the logistic regression model.
Setting: São Paulo city, Brazil.
Participants: Totally, 909 householders.
Results: Eighty-eight per cent of the households included young women working as cleaners or kitchen assistants and in sales services. One-fifth of the participants were involved in the federal cash transfer programme, called Bolsa Família. There were 92 % households with children. The most frequent experience reported was uncertainty about food acquisition or receiving more (89 %), eating less than one should (64 %), not being able to eat healthy and nutritious food (46 %), and skipping a meal (39 %). Forty-seven per cent of the participants experienced moderate or severe FI. Factors associated with moderate and severe FI were low income, being a Bolsa Família recipient, having a low level of education and living in a household without children.
Conclusions: Half of the participants experienced moderate or severe FI, and almost 10 % experienced hunger. Our data suggest that families with children were at a lower risk of moderate to severe FI. It is possible that nationally established social programmes such as Bolsa Família were protecting those families.

Keywords: COVID-19; Food insecurity; Inequalities; Pandemic

Date Created: 20201228 Date Completed: 20210420 Latest Revision: 20210420

20240628

PMC7870910

10.1017/S1368980020005261

33357256