Spillover effect of violent conflicts on food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa

Muriuki, James; Hudson, Darren; Fuad, S.A.; March, Raymond J.; Lacombe, Donald J.

doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2023.102417

Cited by 13 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In particular, the focus here is on whether physical insecurity leads to greater calorie consumption as a consequence of an increased purchase of cheap carbohydrates. A growing stream of literature demonstrates exposure to violence's negative impact on proxies of food access such as the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), Food Consumption Score (FCS) and calorie consumption (Lin et al, 2021; Marchesi & Rockmore, 2023; Muriuki et al, 2023). For example, whereas Dabalen and Paul (2014) document the negative relation between measures of self‐reported conflict‐related victimisation and Ivorian household food security, George et al (2020) use a fixed effects estimator to illustrate how exposure to Boko Haram violence in Nigeria limits both the variety and portion sizes of food eaten.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of violent conflict on calorie consumption and dietary quality in Iraq

Parigi

2023

J Agricultural Economics

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By combining 2012 Living Standard Measurement Survey cross‐sectional survey responses and georeferenced conflict data, this study quantifies the effect of violent conflict on food security and dietary quality in Iraq. Specifically, it estimates the effect of physical insecurity on different food security dimensions, including caloric consumption and household dietary diversity. Because disrespecting war‐related foreign national cemeteries is a war crime that discourages nearby fighting, instrumenting conflict intensity by the exogenous variation in distance between these sites and household place of residence addresses potential sources of bias. The instrumental variable analysis confirms the positive (negative) effect of conflict—deriving from state, non‐state and one‐sided violence (e.g., attacks by the Islamic State)—on per capita caloric consumption (household dietary diversity), which although counterintuitive is unsurprising given Iraq's relatively high‐income levels and changes in dietary pattern. Given that the primary driver of conflict's positive effect on calories is increased consumption of carbohydrates and, to a lesser extent, saturated fat, these results suggest that in countries transitioning to Western‐style diets, violent conflict may drive the population toward an unhealthier diet, contributing heavily to a growing national prevalence of nutrition‐related non‐communicable diseases.

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