Household Resilience to Food and Nutrition Insecurity during COVID-19 in Tanzania

Abstract

We examine food and nutrition security and the household’s ability to respond adequately to shock and stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we assess household resilience to food insecurity and its relation to future food security. We use two survey rounds collected during the pandemic – before and after the second wave of the pandemic–from the vulnerable population living in slums in Tanzania. The findings reveal that many households have low resilience to shock. We find that COVID-19 reduced access to food in 68% of the households and left about 30% without any food to eat. We also find that micronutrient consumption significantly declined among households who reported food insecurity following the second wave of COVID-19. We also find that the probability of experiencing food insecurity reduced with the initial resilience level. High resilient households have a higher likelihood of maintaining or diversifying more their diets even when are exposed to shock. The disruption of income-generating activities was found as a leading pathway through which COVID-19 affected household food security. The findings suggest that with persisting COVID-19 pandemic and the low level of micronutrients consumption, the nutrition of children and adult household members of the vulnerable population is at stake.

Impact of COVID‐19 measures on the health and healthcare of children in East‐Africa: Scoping review

“…Table 2 and Table 3 present the characteristics of these 70 studies 6,10–78 . Scale level: national ( n = 49), regional ( n = 21).…”

“…In addition, the socioeconomic systems of East‐African countries were fragile before COVID‐19 6,20 . Implementing severe containment measures which reduces economic activity, educational attainment, and mobility may have long‐term consequences 11–13,15,17,19–32 . Furthermore, resources in healthcare are being redirected to COVID‐19 care, putting more pressure on already under‐resourced maternal and childcare 19,33 .…”

“…The measures should be targeted and contextualised. Not all regions in East‐Africa have the resources to facilitate these restrictions 6,10,11,14,15,17,23–29,31,34–39 . The authors also mention that the strategy of governments revolved too much on limiting the spread of COVID‐19 while losing sight of the impact this may have on vulnerable populations.…”

“…The authors also mention that the strategy of governments revolved too much on limiting the spread of COVID‐19 while losing sight of the impact this may have on vulnerable populations. The focus was put too much on policies for adult care and not on maternal and childcare 24,28,32,33,40,41 . A holistic approach is needed that considers both the direct effects of the virus threat as well as the socioeconomic and health‐related indirect effects 27,35 .…”

“…A holistic approach is needed that considers both the direct effects of the virus threat as well as the socioeconomic and health‐related indirect effects 27,35 . A nuance to this is that when containment measures are implemented, also relief measures need to be implemented to mitigate the socioeconomic indirect effects that may occur 6,10,17,21–25,27,30,32,35,38,42–44 . Not all countries implemented strict containment measures 24 .…”