COVID-19-Induced Disruptions of School Feeding Services Exacerbate Food Insecurity in Nigeria.

Kibrom A Abay,Mulubrhan Amare,Luca Tiberti,Kwaw S Andam

doi:10.1093/jn/nxab100

Kibrom A Abay, Mulubrhan Amare + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxab100

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Abstract

ABSTRACTBackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated lockdown measures have disrupted educational and nutrition services globally. Understanding the overall and differential impacts of disruption of nutritional (school feeding) services is critical for designing effective post-COVID-19 recovery policies.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to examine the impact of COVID-19-induced disruption of school feeding services on household food security in Nigeria.MethodsWe combined household-level, pre-COVID-19 in-person survey data with postpandemic phone survey data, along with local government area (LGA)–level information on access to school feeding services. We used a difference-in-difference approach and examined temporal trends in the food security of households with and without access to school feeding services. Of the sampled households, 83% live in LGAs with school feeding services.ResultsHouseholds experienced an increase in food insecurity in the post-COVID-19 survey round. The share of households skipping a meal increased by 47 percentage points (95% CI: 44–50 percentage points). COVID-19-induced disruptions of school feeding services increased households' experiences of food insecurity, increasing the probability of skipping a meal by 9 percentage points (95% CI: 3–17 percentage points) and the likelihood of going without eating for a whole day by 3 percentage points (95% CI: 2–11 percentage points). Disruption of school feeding services is associated with a 0.2 SD (95% CI: 0.04–0.41 SD) increase in the food insecurity index. Households residing in states experiencing strict lockdown measures reported further deterioration in food insecurity. Single mothers and poorer households experienced relatively larger deteriorations in food security due to disruption of school feeding services.ConclusionsOur findings show that COVID-19-induced disruptions in educational and nutritional services have exacerbated households’ food insecurity in Nigeria. These findings can inform the designs of immediate and medium-term policy responses, including the designs of social protection policies and alternative programs to substitute nutritional services affected by the pandemic.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown policies have disrupted educational, health and nutrition services globally, with enormous implications for households’ and children’s wellbeing [1,2,3,4]
Understanding both the overall and differential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated disruptions of school feeding services is critical for designing effective post-COVID-19 recovery policies and options
This paper aims to quantify the impacts of COVID-19-induced disruptions of school feeding services on households’ food security in Nigeria

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown policies have disrupted educational, health and nutrition services globally, with enormous implications for households’ and children’s wellbeing [1,2,3,4]. School feeding services represent the cornerstone of education programs and nutrition policies and several studies have shown that school feeding programs improve the educational outcomes, gender equality, nutrition, and food security of children and their families [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18] Understanding both the overall and differential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated disruptions of school feeding services is critical for designing effective post-COVID-19 recovery policies and options

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