COVID-19 and Food Security in Bangladesh: A Chance to Look Back at What Is Done and What Can Be Done

Abstract

First paragraph: The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global health crisis, and the long-term impact of the pan­demic is predicted to reach far beyond today. In a lower-middle-income country with upward economic growth, such as Bangladesh, it is essential first to understand the present situation in order to create a proper recovery plan. Bangladesh has made significant progress in poverty reduction over the last two decades. Its poverty rate dropped to 23.2% in 2016 from 48.9% in 2000 (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics [BBS], 2018), which has also helped improve the country’s food security status. Bangladesh has made remarkable progress over the last few years (Roy, Dev, & Sheheli, 2019) in most of the four dimensions of food security: food availability, food access, food utilization, and food stability. . . .