BMJ Open
Makkar, S., Manivannan, J., Swaminathan, S., Travasso, S., John, A., Webb, P, Kurpad, A., Thomas, T.,
2022-06-27
Article on the empirical evidence on the prevalence of food insecurity in Bihar state before and after lockdown, and whether the government’s policy of cash transfer moderated negative effects of food insecurity or not. A longitudinal study was conducted. A total of 1797 households were surveyed in survey 1, and about 52% were followed up in survey 2. Valid data for 859 households were considered for the analysis. Household food insecurity worsened considerably during lockdown, rising from 20% (95% CI 17.4 to 22.8) to 47% (95% CI 43.8 to 50.4) at the sample mean. Households experiencing negative income shocks were more likely to have been food insecure before the lockdown (adjusted OR 6.4, 95% CI 4.9 to 8.3). However, households that received cash transfers had lower odds of being food insecure once the lockdown was lifted (adjusted OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.99).These findings provide evidence on how the swift economic response to the pandemic crises using targeted income transfers was relatively successful in mitigating potentially deep impacts of food insecurity.
- COVID-19 Pandemic
- Economic
- Food Insecurity
- Social Support and Protection
- Asia
- India
- South Asia
- Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)
- Households
- Research
- Article
- Journal article
