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COVID-19 implications on household income and food security in Kenya and Uganda: Findings from a rapid assessment.

ABSTRACT: This study assessed implications of the Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic on household income and food security in two East African countries - Kenya and Uganda, using online survey data from 442 respondents. Results show that more than two-thirds of the respondents experienced income shocks due to the COVID-19 crisis. Food security and dietary quality worsened, as measured by the food insecurity experience scale and the frequency of consumption of nutritionally-rich foods. The proportion of food insecure respondents increased by 38% and 44% in Kenya and Uganda respectively, and in both countries, the regular consumption of fruits decreased by about 30% during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to a normal period (before the pandemic). Results from probit regressions show that the income-poor households and those dependent on labour income were more vulnerable to income shock, and had poorer food consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to other respondent categories. As such, they were more likely to employ food-based coping strategies compared to those pursuing alternative livelihoods, who generally relied on savings. Farmers were less likely to experience worsened food security compared to other respondent categories who depended to a great extent on market sources for food. In both countries, participation in national social security schemes was less likely to mitigate respondents' income shock during the COVID-19 period. Conversely, membership in savings and loan groups was correlated with less likelihood of suffering income shocks and reduction in food consumption. The results suggest that ongoing and future government responses should focus on structural changes in social security by developing responsive packages to cushion members pushed into poverty by such pandemics while building strong financial institutions to support the recovery of businesses in the medium term, and ensuring the resilience of food supply chains particularly those making available nutrient-dense foods.

SUBMITTER: Kansiime MK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7500897 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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COVID-19 implications on household income and food security in Kenya and Uganda: Findings from a rapid assessment.

Kansiime Monica K MK Tambo Justice A JA Mugambi Idah I Bundi Mary M Kara Augustine A Owuor Charles C

World development 20200918

This study assessed implications of the Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic on household income and food security in two East African countries - Kenya and Uganda, using online survey data from 442 respondents. Results show that more than two-thirds of the respondents experienced income shocks due to the COVID-19 crisis. Food security and dietary quality worsened, as measured by the food insecurity experience scale and the frequency of consumption of nutritionally-rich foods. The proporti ...[more]

PMID: 32982018

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Project description:To target food security interventions for smallholder households, decision makers need large-scale information, such as maps on poverty, food security and key livelihood activities. Such information is often based on expert knowledge or aggregated data, despite the fact that food security and poverty are driven largely by processes at the household level. At present, it is unclear if and how household level information can contribute to the spatial prediction of such welfare indicators or to what extent local variability is ignored by current mapping efforts. A combination of geo-referenced household level information with spatially continuous information is an underused approach to quantify local and large-scale variation, while it can provide a direct estimate of the variability of welfare indicators at the most relevant scale. We applied a stepwise regression kriging procedure to translate point information to spatially explicit patterns and create country-wide predictions with associated uncertainty estimates for indicators on food availability and related livelihood activities using household survey data from Uganda. With few exceptions, predictions of the indicators were weak, highlighting the difficulty in capturing variability at larger scale. Household explanatory variables identified little additional variation compared to environmental explanatory variables alone. Spatial predictability was strongest for indicators whose distribution was determined by environmental gradients. In contrast, indicators of crops that were more ubiquitously present across agroecological zones showed large local variation, which often overruled large-scale patterns. Our procedure adds to existing approaches that often only show large-scale patterns by revealing that local variation in welfare is large. Interventions that aim to target the poor must recognise that diversity in livelihood activities for income generation within any given area often overrides the variability of livelihood activities between distant regions in the country.

Project description:BackgroundFood insecurity is an important underlying driver of HIV risk and vulnerability among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. In this region, adolescents account for 80% of all new HIV infections. The primary purpose of this analysis is to understand perceived mechanisms for how a multisectoral agricultural intervention influenced sexual risk taking among HIV-affected adolescents in southwestern Kenya.MethodsWe conducted semi-structured, individual interviews with 34 adolescent-caregiver dyads who were participants in Adolescent Shamba Maisha (NCT03741634), a sub-study of adolescent girls and caregivers with a household member participating in the Shamba Maisha trial (NCT01548599), a multi-sectoral agricultural and microfinance intervention. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, translated, and analyzed using framework and interpretive description analysis methods.ResultsAdolescents receiving the Shamba Maisha intervention described no longer needing to engage in transactional sex or have multiple concurrent sexual partners as a way to meet their basic needs, including food. Key mechanisms for these effects include greater sexual agency among adolescent girls, and increased confidence and self-efficacy in overcoming existing reciprocity norms and sexual relationship power inequity; as well as staying in school. The intervention also increased caregiver confidence in talking about adolescent sexual reproductive health issues. In contrast, driven primarily by the need for food and basic needs, girls in the control arms described engaging in transactional sex, having multiple sexual partners, being unable to focus in school, getting pregnant or becoming HIV infected.ConclusionThese findings emphasize the need to address food insecurity as a part of structural interventions targeting adolescent HIV risk in low-resource countries. We recommend that future interventions build upon the Shamba Maisha model by combining sustainable agricultural production, with household level interventions that deliberately target gender norms that contribute to unequal power dynamics.

Project description:Abstract Objectives Reducing the gender gap in empowerment within households is associated with indicators of improved diet. This study developed a household-level empowerment measure and then examined its association with food security. Methods This analysis used baseline data from a nutrition-sensitive agriculture intervention in rural Ghana (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03869853). Only 198 of the 330 households with complete paired empowerment data for one female and one male were included. The household empowerment measure was constructed in two stages. First, the individual empowerment score was assessed using the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) with its 12 indicators (e.g., influential group membership, access to financial services). Participants were classified as empowered (≥75%, 9 out of 12 indicators) or disempowered (<75%). Then, the household was categorized as empowered (both members empowered; 50.5%), semi-empowered (only one member empowered; 34.9%) or disempowered (both members not empowered; 14.6%). Two of the pro-WEAI indicators were assessed also at the household level using the same technique. Food security was assessed with the 15-item Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale; a binary variable was created: food secure (0), food insecure (FIS; >0). Cluster-adjusted logistic regression models examined the relationship between FIS and household empowerment. Results Over half (58%) of households were FIS. Empowered compared to disempowered households had a lower odds of being FIS (aOR = 0.50, 95% CI [0.29, 0.86]). The model for influential group membership showed that empowered were less likely than disempowered households to be FIS (aOR = 0.27, 95% CI [0.13, 0.58]) while the model for access to financial services showed the opposite (aOR = 3.15, 95% CI [1.80, 5.51]). Conclusions These results highlight the complexity of empowerment measures and support empowerment approaches that target different members of the household. Funding Sources The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships (QES) is managed through a unique partnership of Universities Canada, RHF, CFC, and Canadian universities. The QES-AS is made possible with financial support from IDRC and SSHRC.

Dataset Information

COVID-19 implications on household income and food security in Kenya and Uganda: Findings from a rapid assessment.

Publications

COVID-19 implications on household income and food security in Kenya and Uganda: Findings from a rapid assessment.

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