Exploring the Impact of Crises on Food Security in Lebanon: Results from a National Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

This study aims to explore the prevalence and correlates of food insecurity among Lebanese households since the ordeals of COVID-19, economic crisis, and Beirut port explosions. At the core of the study, a mobile application entitled Nutrition Assessment System (NAS) that simplified the data collection was used as toolkit and a technical test was carried out in all Lebanese governorates between November 2020 and March 2021. Findings show that food insecurity is an immediate problem for households in Beirut and in many governorates in Lebanon. Nine in every 16 households ate less than 2 meals per day and more than 70% of them skipped their meals to spare food. Even though half the population studied had a low food consumption score, 82.4% of the people were not relying on livelihood coping strategies. However, more than three out of ten of these households relied on at least three food-based coping strategies. In addition, as for the livelihoods, this assessment found that most Lebanese households reported a drop in income along with an expansion in debt incurrence in the last 24 months to be able to buy food. Improving food security in Lebanon requires effort not only on the part of the government, but through regional and international actions.

Dietary Diversity in the Eastern Mediterranean Region Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Disparities, Challenges, and Mitigation Measures

“…Well, several challenges were observed throughout the epidemic such as absence of food, going to several places to find it, inability to afford some types, worries on food safety, and finding the best-price shops for buying some foods. Consumers tend to limit food types they cannot afford such as meat and fish and start consuming higher quantities of starchy food due to their wide availability and cheap prices ( 7 ). The mental status and anxiety related to food availability can push food insecure consumers toward more consumption of fruits, savory snacks, sweets, and candies which in turn can cause weight gain, as appeared in many other studies ( 9 – 11 ).…”

“…Furthermore, COVID-19 pandemic was acquainted by a need for mitigation measures to compensate for household economic crisis. Consumers were forced to change their food consumption patterns involuntarily, rely on savings, sell household durable assets and livestock, buy foods with high shelf-life, eat less, buy cheaper food, and accept food from friend as a mean of mitigation measures ( 7 ). In many countries, physical distancing requirements and the international restrictions on travel along with the fear of disease have led to quarantining millions of people and affecting the global economy, social lives, tourism, and the hospitality industries that imposed disruption of supply chains for fresh produce, perishable and nutritious foods, such as fruits and vegetables, meat, milk and other dairy products that often requires many people to work in presence to cultivate, harvest and process.…”

“…The FCS is a composite score that evaluate the dietary diversity and food frequency when assessing food security. The decrease in the FCS in the five countries: Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine may be related to several factors such as the critical political and economic situations affecting the region with a more important decrease in the MENA countries compared to the GCC region ( 7 ). Beyond the causes of food insecurity in the Arab region, clashes, tensions and civil insecurity have remained the foremost critical drivers of food insecurity nowadays due to numerous factors such as razing farm land, killing live stocks, bombs, blocking access to markets, refugee migration in addition to ongoing other conflicts ( 12 ).…”

“…Moreover, according to Hoteit et al, 9 in every 16 households ate <2 meals per day and more than 70% of them skipped their meals to spare food. Even though half the Lebanese population studied had a low food consumption score ( 7 ). Another study conducted in three countries of which Lebanon was included, showed that 33% and 31% of the respondents stated that they shopped for food once a week and two to three times a week during the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively.…”

“…Currently, in 12 countries including Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine, and Sudan, more than 10 million people were assisted by short-term assistances and cash-based transfers. In addition, the situation is extremely worsening and worrying in many countries affected by conflicts, violence and socioeconomic crises including Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, and Lebanon ( 7 , 8 ). Upon the exponential increase in COVID-19 consequences on the financial status of consumers, food insecurity started to aggravate in most EM countries.…”