Avaliação da insegurança alimentar no contexto da COVID-19: associação com o auxílio emergencial e recebimento de doação de alimentos na população em vulnerabilidade social de uma capital do Nordeste do Brasil
Luiz Gonzaga Ribeiro Silva‐Neto, Nassib Bezerra Bueno, Thays Lane Ferreira dos Santos, Jonatan Christian de Lima Santos Queiroz, Janine Maria Aragão Francelino, Isabele Rejane de Oliveira Maranhão Pureza, Telma Maria de Menezes Toledo Florêncio
Abstract
The scope of this study was to investigate the prevalence of food insecurity in the context of COVID-19 and its association with the emergency aid income-transfer program and the collecting of food donations by the population in a situation of social vulnerability. A cross-sectional study was carried out with socially vulnerable families eight months after confirming the first case of COVID-19 in Brazil. A total of 903 families, living in 22 underprivileged communities of Maceió, in the state of Alagoas, were included. Sociodemographic characteristics were evaluated, and the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale was applied. The association of food insecurity with the variables studied was performed using Poisson regression with robust variance estimation, considering α = 5%. Of the total sample, 71.1% were food insecure, a situation associated with receiving food donations (PR = 1.14; 95%CI: 1.02; 1.27) and being a beneficiary of emergency aid (PR =1.23; 95%CI: 1.01; 1.49). The results show that the population in a situation of social vulnerability was strongly affected by food insecurity. On the other hand, the population group in question benefited from actions implemented at the outset of the pandemic.