Humanitarian Food Security Interventions during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of Actions among Non-State Actors

Introduction

In the context of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), food insecurity has emerged as a global humanitarian crisis. The Executive Director of the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that the world is facing a “hunger pandemic” [1], with estimates suggesting that the number of individuals suffering from acute hunger could double by the end of 2020, affecting 265 million people worldwide [2]. This crisis is particularly pressing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where food insecurity was already a serious concern prior to the COVID-19 pandemic [3,4,5,6]. Across LMICs, food security challenges are disproportionately felt by vulnerable populations, such as children, women, older adults, informal workers, and migrants and refugees, who may not have the financial or social capital to buffer against the shocks created by the pandemic [7,8,9].

Control measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 have impacted all aspects of food systems, including the production, distribution, and storage of food, as well as food environments, consumption, and waste [4,7,9]. For example, in the early stages of the pandemic, food availability was restricted due to trade and mobility restrictions, transportation disruptions, interruptions to agricultural practices, rising demand for food, and an increase in food prices as a result of panic buying and temporary food shortages [4,7,10]. Access to food has also been limited, as government measures restricting mobility have led to reduced employment in both formal and informal sectors, in addition to the decreased ability of vulnerable populations to purchase food or access food through their previous channels, such as daily markets, street vendors, or school-based food programs [5,6,11,12].

Furthermore, the ability to adequately utilize food has been challenged, as households adapt to pandemic measures by purchasing shelf-stable foods or by relying on emergency food rations, with fresh and nutritious fruits and vegetables becoming less available [4,13]. Research from the first several months of the pandemic estimated that the interruption of existing nutrition interventions could drastically heighten instances of childhood and maternal malnutrition [13,14,15]. In this way, the pandemic has further exacerbated the instability of food security in many LMICs, compounding challenges associated with poverty, conflict, and environmental crises, with the potential to lead to long-term malnutrition and other negative health outcomes [4,12].