Food and Nutrition security in the context of Covid 19: A case study of Katanga slum in Kawempe division

Abstract

Food and nutrition security means that all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life. Covid-19 is a disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Hopkins Medicine, 2022). The covid-19 pandemic was a health and humanitarian crisis that threatened the food and nutrition security of millions of people around the world. Measures to control or mitigate covid-19 outbreaks like border restrictions and lockdowns affected the global food supply chains. Nearly 900 million people worldwide lacked access to adequate and sufficient food and within this population, 155 million people suffered from severe food deficiencies. In the wake of covid-19 food insecurity in Uganda increased drastically with urban areas and their high population densities being more vulnerable. Strict lockdown rules to contain the spread of the virus made food distribution and access difficult for these urban dwellers, who depend on food markets and do not produce their food. Most of the households in Katanga depend on daily income (hand to mouth), with the covid-19 pandemic restrictions these households experienced income shocks which worsened the food security and dietary quality of these households. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the food and nutrition security status of selected households located in Katanga, Kawempe division. The study employed a cross-sectional study design. A total of 45 mothers were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire and 45 children aged 6-59 months were assessed for their nutritional status. The prevalence of wasting, stunting, and being underweight among children aged 6-59 months in Katanga was 28.8%, 66.7%, and 46.7%, respectively. The factors associated with the nutrition status of children were the resources used to obtain food in these households (p-Value = 0.000) and food availability (p-Value = 0.051). Majority of the households (60%) reported having no food in storage during the pandemic. Food availability in households was found to be associated with the marital status of the mother (p-Value = 0.038), the presence of chronically ill members in the household (p-Value = 0.025), resources used to obtain food (p-Value = 0.036), the distance of markets from the households (p-Value = 0.009), the existence of support (p-Value = 0.001), and the source of food (p-Value = 0.048). Most of the households (51.1%) reported having limited food access at the time of the pandemic. According to this study, food access was associated with the number of members in the household (p-Value = 0.052), the source of food (p-Value = 0.037), and the number of meals consumed in the household in a day (p-Value = 0.012). The frequency of consumption of fruits and vegetables, meat, fish and poultry, and milk and dairy products was low, while the frequency of consumption of pulses, legumes, and nuts was high. The key coping strategies for food insecurity were a reduction in the quantity of food cooked (17.8%), a reduction in the number of meals per day (11.1%), and obtaining food on credit or borrowing money to buy food (16.1%), but most of the households adopted more than one coping strategy. In conclusion, the covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown restrictions that were put in place to mitigate the spread of the disease had a negative impact on the food and nutrition security status of the households located in Katanga slum. There is a need for an improvement in the country's disaster preparedness. Key words: Food security, nutrition security, covid-19, Katanga slum