Factors determining household-level food insecurity during COVID-19 epidemic: a case of Wuhan, China

Abstract

Background: In coping with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, cities adopted social isolation and lockdown measures; however, little is known about the impacts of these restrictions on household food security.
 Objective: This study provides a timely assessment of household food insecurity (HFI) in the Chinese city of Wuhan during the COVID-19 epidemic period and also investigates its determinant factors.
 Design: We collected valid data on food insecurity from 653 households in Wuhan via an online questionnaire in March 2020. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale Score (HFIASS) was used to measure HFI, and a multiple linear regression model was used to determine the HFIASS.
 Results: The mean HFIASS in Wuhan was 9.42 (standard deviation: 5.82), with more than 50% of the households had an HFIASS < 9. Compared with normal conditions, lockdown measures had a huge negative impact on household food security. The results revealed that socio-demographic characteristics remained the underlying determinants of HFIASS during the epidemic. Households in Wuhan with local Hukou (city household registration) and self-owned property had a lower risk of food insecurity.
 Discussion and conclusion: After the restriction of conventional food access channels, intermediary food purchase methods such as group purchasing, shopping with the help of neighborhood committees, property management agents, and volunteers became the most important or the only channel for residents to access food. There were similarities in the use of these intermediary channels. Based on the probability that the epidemic will continue and the probability of similar public health-related outbreaks in the future, the study calls for a more resilient and responsive sustainable food supply system by harnessing the capacity of communities, e-commerce and rapid logistics.

Dominant Factor of Household Food Security During COVID-19 Pandemic in Depok City in 2020 (Analysis of Secondary Data 2020)

“…Research in Bangladesh showed that food insecure households during pandemic were 88.68% 36 . A study in Wuhan, China showed that 94% of households were food insecure in March 2020 37 .…”

Wuhan Household Food Provisioning under Blockaded COVID‐19 Lockdown

“…In 2020, Wuhan had a population of over 9 million registered residents (Zhang et al. 2021) and another 4–5 million “nonresidents who frequently move in and out for business, work, and tourist purposes” (Bian et al. 2020, 420).…”

“…During the 2019–2020 winter holidays, millions of registered inhabitants left Wuhan for vacations (Zhang et al. 2021); millions of nonresidents came to visit family members (Qian and Fan 2020; Zhu and Cai 2020); and unknown numbers of nonresident migrants arrived or departed for seasonal festival work (Zhao, Liu, and Zhang 2018). The estimated 11 million still in Wuhan on January 23, 2020—whether lifelong residents, winter holiday visitors, or temporary migrant workers—went without warning abruptly under government‐blockaded lockdown.…”

“…Compounding their isolation from governmental services, seasonal migrant workers unemployed by the lockdown lacked incomes to purchase food much less pay rent (Zhang et al. 2021). As the business owner observed:

At the beginning of the epidemic, until April, life may have undergone drastic changes, that is, its appearance has changed.

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“…After the Wuhan lockdown, studies found socio‐economic differentiation in food system outcomes among commercial retailers and distributors (Min, Zhang, and Li 2020) and household consumers (Zhang et al. 2021). However, only one of those investigations examined gender (Qian and Hanser 2020).…”