Children and COVID-19 Research Library

This study investigates the short-term impacts of an aggregate socioeconomic shock on household food consumption and children’s nutrition using the case of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mozambique. In response to the economic downturn, households are expected to adjust their food choices both in terms of quality, towards cheaper and unhealthier food, and quantity, reducing diet diversification and increasing the exposure to malnutrition, mainly for children. Empirical evidence on such immediate effects is still scarce, mainly due to a lack of data. This paper aims to fill the evidence gap by relying on household survey data from 2019–20, which includes a detailed consumption module and anthropometric measures for children under five. It uses a repeated cross-sectional econometric analysis to look at the variation in household food consumption and child nutrition before and after the pandemic.

The emergence of the novel Coronavirus in late 2019 led to disruptions in the food, economic and health systems. There are projections that the pandemic will worsen hunger and malnutrition in families with young children and women of reproductive age in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Therefore, this study investigated household food security status, dietary patterns and nutritional status of children in a Nigerian community during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total sample of 200 mother-child pairs was selected from a Nigerian community using a multistage sampling technique. A semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire, which had four sections, was used for data collection. A food security survey questionnaire was used to assess household food security, and a food frequency questionnaire was used to capture child food patterns. Dietary diversity was assessed using 24-hour dietary recall, and nutritional status was measured using anthropometric parameters. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

This study investigates the prevalence of household food insecurity and child hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside the relationships between household income and the occurrence of child hunger. Socio-demographic characteristics, including monthly household income, gender, and age of the surveyed child were parent-reported. The validated 10-item Radimer/Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity Instrument was adopted to assess household food insecurity, parental food insecurity, and child hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lockdown after the COVID-19 pandemic not only caused public health crises and income stress but also put millions at risk of food insecurity and malnutrition across the globe, especially in low and middle-income countries [LMICs]. This study evaluated the effects of financial stress and household socio-economic deprivation on the nutritional status of 1551 children under the age of five during COVID-19 in Pakistan. A self-administered questionnaire was used between November 2020 and April 2021 to collect information on age, height, children’s weight, and socio-economic status from 1152 rural households from underdeveloped regions in Punjab, Pakistan. With the help of the proportionate simple random sampling method, this study employed a model (binary logistic regression) to calculate the likelihood of malnourishment.

Among the social inequalities that continue to still surpasses the basic rights of several citizens, political and environmental organizations decisively “drag” the “ghost” of hunger between different countries of the world, including Brazil. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the difficulties encountered in fighting poverty, which has led Brazil to a worrying situation regarding its fragility in the fight against new pandemics. The present study aims to estimate, compare, and report the prevalence of mortality due to child malnutrition among the macro-regions of Brazil and verify possible associations with the outcome of death by COVID-19. This would identify the most fragile macro-regions in the country with the greatest need for care and investments.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated problems of ensuring food security for all strata of the population of many countries of the world, including Russia. For scientific research of these problems, development and implementation of effective practical recommendations in the international scientific community has developed an interdisciplinary the concept of “food security”. Food security is a stable condition processes, mechanisms, infrastructures, relationships and influences related to food production, storage, transportation, supply, consumption and disposal food waste. The concept of food security it is the key to studying the problems of providing for the population food economists, lawyers, specialists management and logistics, marketers, social psychologists, nutritionists, as well as specialists in the field of other sciences. Its place in comprehensive security research food security is also found by the sociology of nutrition, which studies food systems, first of all, in its links such as the consumption of food by various social groups and food waste management. During the third stage of the sociological research, the topic which was the change in the eating behavior of various socio-demographic groups of Russian society in the conditions of ongoing pandemics, the author’s team conducted an analysis of food practices children and adolescents in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods of conducting smart survey and in-depth interviews were selected for the research.

This study examines how children’s centres in a major city in England responded to food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic by helping to run ‘FOOD Clubs’ to support families. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with children’s centre staff, it analyses how clubs were organised, why people joined them, and the range of benefits parents derived from them. It extends the literature on food insecurity which focuses heavily on the rise of foodbanks. These data also informs broader policy debates around supporting parents in poverty, effective early years provision and the challenges facing families experiencing food insecurity.

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. 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.

COVID-19 caused stark increases in food insecurity. To maintain food provision, policy changes to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were instated. This longitudinal study examined (1) food security patterns across the timeline of COVID-19; (2) the relationship among food security patterns, NSLP/SNAP use, and parent feeding practices; and (3) parent perceptions of NSLP/SNAP policy changes. A total of 333 US parents completed online surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic: May 2020 (T1), September 2020 (T2), and May 2021 (T3). Food security and parent feeding practices were reported at each time point; pre–COVID-19 behaviors were retrospectively reported at T1. Use and perceptions of NSLP/SNAP policy changes were reported at T3. Associations between food security and parent feeding practices were examined using repeated-measures mixed models.

Policies and regulations related to stunting reduction in Indonesia are manifested in both specific and sensitive interventions. Throughout the process, these intervention efforts require cross-sector cooperation while noting that stunting is caused by multi-dimensional factors. Unfortunately, the current Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the target achievement of stunting reduction due to limited human resources at the primary service level and various Covid-19 prevention protocols that must be adhered to; both are considered as factors leading to the declining of services at the community level.   This research was conducted to analyze the implementation of stunting prevention policy by reviewing the literature that doing a research to prevent stunting in pandemic era.

Food insecurity is the lack of access to nutritious healthy food due to economic and financial insufficiencies. Food insecurity is expected to be higher during these difficult times in Lebanon, which is facing many financial, political, economic and health debates. The present study aims to find the prevalence of food insecurity among Lebanese children during the COVID-19 pandemic and its correlates. This cross-sectional study enrolled 4001 participants from all Lebanese governorates (March–April 2022). The Ministry of Education and Higher Education randomly disseminated the link to parents of children aged between 5 and 11 years from public and private schools.

Conflict, climate change, the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and fallout from the Ukraine crisis are interacting to create new and worsen existing hunger hotspots around the world. These overlapping crises are reversing the gains many families have made to escape poverty. While global food prices are now stabilising after reaching record highs, in many countries around the world, they continue to climb. High food prices are exacerbating existing humanitarian crises and putting the lives of millions of the world’s most vulnerable children at risk as policymakers are slow to take necessary large-scale action.

The COVID-19 health crisis has turned into a global economic crisis, putting at risk the health, jobs and incomes of millions of people across the world. The pandemic is becoming persistent and seemingly slow to eradicate, with medium and long-term consequences affecting the trajectories of the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) targets across the countries. Better understanding of the implications of COVID-19 containment these measures for food systems, food insecurity and malnutrition is vital to prevent this global health crisis from becoming a food crisis and to rebuilt resilient food systems. The regional review presented in this report is broad-based but provisional since we are still dealing with an active pandemic having just moved past the fourth wave (dominated by Delta variant) and now facing a new variant, Omicron (whose real impact is still under review). As we approach 2022, the world is learning to live with COVID-19 and its variants for longer than initially believed. So the numbers related to COVID-19 infections and vaccination rates are only provisional and reflect the situation as of the time of writing.

The outbreak of COVID-19, and the national-level lockdown to contain it, were expected to disrupt supply chains, lead to livelihood loss, and reduce household income. Studies anticipated a decline in food security in India, leading to a near famine-like situation. This study examines the change in Dietary Score (number of food groups consumed out of a possible eight) and proportion of respondents complying with Minimum Dietary Diversity norms (consuming at least four food groups) among women aged 15–49 years and their youngest child (aged between 7 and 36 months) during the lockdown. The present study also analyses whether ownership of ration cards and contacts with the party in power locally helped the household to tide over the crisis. The data was collected through a two-phase primary survey undertaken in January-March 2020 (pre-lockdown period) and October-November 2020 (post-lockdown period). It was undertaken in six districts of Bihar, a state with a history of poor maternal and child health outcomes and dysfunctional delivery of health services.