Has COVID-19 influenced household food security in the Timorese population?

Abstract

Food scarcity as an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused famine around the world. The solution of the COVID-19 problem, will involve the minor elements of the community, such as overcoming household food security. This cross-sectional study was carried out to assess whether composite index of household food security, nutrient intake, nutritional status, individual and household dietary diversity score with food and agricultural organization measuring household and individual dietary diversity score among the Timorese family with toddlers’ population during pandemic period, using interviews and direct measurements of respondents, involving 1444 participants. Areas prone to food insecurity had a lower average index score than food-insecure areas. There was a strong correlation between the index score and the level of nutritional adequacy of children under five in: energy, protein, fat, calcium, iron, zinc, and vitamin B12. In addition, the index scores also had a strong positive correlation with the dietary diversity of children under five years old, as seen from the individual dietary diversity score (IDDS) score with r value 0.231 (p value 0.000). There was a strong positive correlation between the index score and the nutritional status of children under five according to body weight for age (BW/A), height for age (H/A), and body weight for height (BW/H). In general, the index developed from this study described the status of household food security. In addition, the total index score could be a fairly strong predictor of nutrient intake and nutritional status in children under five years old.