Impact of government policies on individual choices of food and potential impact on outcomes and nutrition among vulnerable population during COVID-19 pandemic in low- to middle-income country: Literature review

Abstract

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease which has affected almost all countries globally. The disease is caused by the corona virus, transmitted from human to human through droplet infection. The virus was first identified in China in December 2019, and spread worldwide. Despite the virus being highly infectious, there is no cure for coronavirus disease COVID-19. The current global approach in the fight against COVID-19 focuses on travel bans including border closures, restrictions on mass gatherings, and mass vaccination of all adults. However, the travel bans and border closures have shown to negatively affect availability, accessibility, and affordability of basic needs such as food, especially for populations in the low- to middle-income countries. This is so since a good percentage of population in low- to middle-income countries live on hand to mouth, and cannot afford adequate food stock to sustain them for a long period of time. In addition, there is a challenge to afford purchasing storage facilities such as refrigerators for storage of fresh foods. Therefore, the purpose of this narrative literature review is to unveil the impact of government policies on individual choices of food and potential impact on outcomes and nutrition in children, elderly and chronically ill individuals in the COVID-19 pandemic era in low- and middle-income countries from 2020 to 2021.