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Impacts of COVID-19 on people’s food security: Foundations for a more resilient food system

IFPRI Béné, C., Bakker, D., Chavarro, M. J. , Even, B., Melo, J., Sonneveld, A. 2021-2-1
A Report on global assessment of the impacts of COVID-19 on food systems and their actors, focusing specifically on the consequences that the pandemic had brought on the food security and nutrition of those who have been affected by the crisis. This included formal and informal actors of the food supply chains (from producers to street vendors) as well as consumers, in both rural and urban environments. Building on this assessment, the task was then to draw on key principles of resilience in the context of humanitarian and food security crisis, to identify preliminary elements of a food system resilience research agenda. The assessment was based on a methodical mapping of the information available worldwide, collected with electronic search engines in four different languages (English, French, Spanish and Portuguese). Analytically, two main concepts were used to unpack and analyse the effects of COVID-19 on people’s food security and nutrition: the concept of food security per se and the concept of food environment. Several dimensions were then included in the analysis: food availability (supply); food access (affordability and physical accessibility); food utilization (quality and safety); stability; proximity; convenience; food waste and losses; and diversity of food items. In addition, elements of people’s wellbeing were considered, including agency and self-efficacy, prevalence of domestic violence, and increased risk of exposure to the virus. The quality of the evidence was assessed using two standard criteria: knowledge elaboration and quality of data, and the level of analytics applied to the data was adjusted to the quality of the information. In total, more than 9,630 documents discussing the impact of COVID-19 on the food security of the different actors of food systems between January and December 2020 were identified, using a combination of keywords specifically chosen to address the objectives of the study. After removal of documents with low representativity and/or low reliability (mainly news media and personal social media reports), we were left with 337 documents covering 62 countries from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas.
  • COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Economic
  • Food Insecurity
  • Health
  • Nutrition
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Central Africa
  • Central America
  • Central Asia
  • East Africa
  • East Asia
  • Ethiopia
  • Europe
  • Global
  • Horn of Africa
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Latin America
  • Lebanon
  • Madagascar
  • Malawi
  • Malawi
  • Mexico
  • Myanmar
  • Myanmar
  • Niger
  • Nigeria
  • North Africa
  • North America
  • Oceania
  • Pakistan
  • Philippines
  • Senegal
  • Sierra Leone
  • Somalia
  • South America
  • South Asia
  • Southeast Africa
  • Southeast Asia
  • Southern Africa
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
  • West Africa
  • Zimbabwe
  • Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)
  • Adults (men and/or women 19+ years old)
  • Community/ies
  • Country-level population(s)
  • Households
  • Men (adults and/or adolescents)
  • Women (adults and/or adolescents)
  • Research
  • Report

Highlighted Sources

Undernourished and overlooked: A global nutrition crisis in adolescent girls and women

  • Advocacy
  • Policy
  • Research
  • Report
  • Statistical Booklet
  • Video
  • Climate Shocks
  • COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Economic
  • Food Insecurity
  • Gender and/or Agency
  • Health
  • Nutrition
  • Other Crises
  • Social Support and Protection
  • Women and/or Girls
2023-3-7
UNICEF’s 2022 Flagship Child Nutrition Report on the latest data and evidence on the status, trends, and inequities in the nutritional status of adolescent girls and women. It sheds light on the barriers they face in accessing nutritious diets, utilizing essential nutrition services, and benefitting from positive care practices. The report calls on governments and partners to work together on ten key actions to transform the food, health, and the social protection systems that aim to improve access to nutritious diets and essential nutrition services, as well as to strengthen nutrition and care practices for adolescent girls and women, everywhere. The full report, executive summary, statistical booklet, and video are available. View Source

Asia and the Pacific regional overview of food security and nutrition 2022: Urban food systems and nutrition – Launch recording, Key messages & Full report

  • Policy
  • Research
  • Article
  • Press release
  • Report
  • Video
  • COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Economic
  • Food Insecurity
  • Health
  • Nutrition
  • Ukraine War
  • Women and/or Girls
2023-01-24
Press release on the launch and key messages of the fifth annual Asia-Pacific regional SOFI report. The report’s highlights capture the challenges and system-level determinants of unhealthy diets in urban areas, both regarding undernutrition and overweight. It presents, among others, data on food security and affordability and the state of progress on achieving the global nutrition targets. The findings profile various urban environments, interventions, experiences, and opportunities to innovate at multiple levels to transform urban areas into sustainable cities. A link to the report's virtual launch event is available including the recording, key messages, and full report. View Source

Impact on public health nutrition services due to COVID-19 pandemic in India: A scoping review of primary studies on health and social security determinants affecting the first 1000 days of life

  • Research
  • Article
  • Journal article
  • COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Food Insecurity
  • Gender and/or Agency
  • Health
  • Nutrition
  • Women and/or Girls
2022-10-27
Article on the impact of COVID-19 related pathways on the first thousand days of life in the Integrated Child Development Scheme and the public distribution ecosystem in India. Data sources: Using Cochrane guidelines, electronic databases, namely Google Scholar and PubMed-NCBI, were searched for evidence between 1 March 2020 and 1 May 2022. A total of 73 studies were identified in initial search; 20 met the inclusion criteria and, thus, were included in the research analysis. Primary studies were conducted throughout pan-India in rural, urban, and semi-urban areas to study the impact of COVID-19-related pathways on the first 1000 days of life. The impact of social security, food insecurity, service delivery, nutrition of pregnant and nursing mothers (P&NMs), and infant and young child feeding (IYCF) varied between geographies and within geographies. Most of the primary studies were conducted at small scale, while only three studies were pan-Indian. The majority of studies were conducted on the mental health of P&NMs and pre-natal and post-natal service delivery disruption. The paucity of the available literature highlights the need to undertake research on the impact of the COVID-19 -related pathways on 1000 days of life in India and worldwide. The best implementation practices were observed where cross-sectional programs were carried out in relation to health services and social security for P&NMs and children. View Source