COVID-19 Severity and Food Insecurity: Evidence from Pakistan
COVID-19 caused serious food disruptions worldwide and raised food insecurity levels. To further understand how COVID-19 impacted food insecurity, this study used nationally representative data from Pakistan to examine the effect of negative COVID-19 shock on food insecurity and its heterogeneity ac...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-10-01
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| Series: | COVID |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8112/4/11/121 |
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| author | Hamza Umer Muhammad Fawad Khan |
| author_facet | Hamza Umer Muhammad Fawad Khan |
| author_sort | Hamza Umer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | COVID-19 caused serious food disruptions worldwide and raised food insecurity levels. To further understand how COVID-19 impacted food insecurity, this study used nationally representative data from Pakistan to examine the effect of negative COVID-19 shock on food insecurity and its heterogeneity across different income groups. COVID-19 shock was quantified by a subjective measure based on self-reported exposure to the severity of COVID-19. We found that households struck severely by COVID-19 were about 26% more likely to report a lack of healthy food, almost 35% more likely to skip a meal, around 33% more likely to run out of food, and around 20% more likely to go without food for one whole day in comparison to the households unexposed to the severe COVID-19 shock. Furthermore, households affected by severe COVID-19 shock, especially those in the lower income quartiles, faced acute food insecurity. We constructed two additional proxies for this negative COVID-19 shock based on the objective assessment of income loss due to the lockdown measures in Pakistan to examine the robustness of the findings, and they also led to similar outcomes. Overall, the findings suggested that poorer and COVID-19-stricken households faced severer food insecurity and required urgent support. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e583f017166f474094f42bf53a204e0e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2673-8112 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | COVID |
| spelling | doaj-art-e583f017166f474094f42bf53a204e0e2024-11-26T17:58:25ZengMDPI AGCOVID2673-81122024-10-014111731174710.3390/covid4110121COVID-19 Severity and Food Insecurity: Evidence from PakistanHamza Umer0Muhammad Fawad Khan1Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study (HIAS)/Institute of Economic Research (IER), Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo 186-8601, JapanNUST Business School (NBS), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), H-12, Islamabad 44000, PakistanCOVID-19 caused serious food disruptions worldwide and raised food insecurity levels. To further understand how COVID-19 impacted food insecurity, this study used nationally representative data from Pakistan to examine the effect of negative COVID-19 shock on food insecurity and its heterogeneity across different income groups. COVID-19 shock was quantified by a subjective measure based on self-reported exposure to the severity of COVID-19. We found that households struck severely by COVID-19 were about 26% more likely to report a lack of healthy food, almost 35% more likely to skip a meal, around 33% more likely to run out of food, and around 20% more likely to go without food for one whole day in comparison to the households unexposed to the severe COVID-19 shock. Furthermore, households affected by severe COVID-19 shock, especially those in the lower income quartiles, faced acute food insecurity. We constructed two additional proxies for this negative COVID-19 shock based on the objective assessment of income loss due to the lockdown measures in Pakistan to examine the robustness of the findings, and they also led to similar outcomes. Overall, the findings suggested that poorer and COVID-19-stricken households faced severer food insecurity and required urgent support.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8112/4/11/121food insecurityPakistanCOVID-19income |
| spellingShingle | Hamza Umer Muhammad Fawad Khan COVID-19 Severity and Food Insecurity: Evidence from Pakistan COVID food insecurity Pakistan COVID-19 income |
| title | COVID-19 Severity and Food Insecurity: Evidence from Pakistan |
| title_full | COVID-19 Severity and Food Insecurity: Evidence from Pakistan |
| title_fullStr | COVID-19 Severity and Food Insecurity: Evidence from Pakistan |
| title_full_unstemmed | COVID-19 Severity and Food Insecurity: Evidence from Pakistan |
| title_short | COVID-19 Severity and Food Insecurity: Evidence from Pakistan |
| title_sort | covid 19 severity and food insecurity evidence from pakistan |
| topic | food insecurity Pakistan COVID-19 income |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8112/4/11/121 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hamzaumer covid19severityandfoodinsecurityevidencefrompakistan AT muhammadfawadkhan covid19severityandfoodinsecurityevidencefrompakistan |