Food insecurity in schoolchildren and their families in a vulnerable region of são paulo coast, in times of pandemic by COVID-19

• Autor(a) principal: Santos, Cassiane de Jesus
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Mata, Mayline Menezes da, Barbosa, Sofia Bonna Boschetti, Medeiros, Maria Angélica Tavares de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/san/article/view/8670707
• topic: Seguridad alimentaria y nutricional; Vulnerabilidad social; Alimentación escolar; Programas y políticas de nutrición y alimentación; Social Vulnerability; School feeding; Food and nutrition security; Nutrition and food programs and policies; Alimentação eescolar; Segurança alimentar e nutricional; Programas e políticas de nutrição e alimentação; Vulnerabilidade social

This study aimed to analyze food (in)security and its associated factors, in families of schoolchildren from Kindergarten and Preschooler of a Public School located in a social vulnerability in the municipality of Santos (São Paulo/SP), Brazil, in the scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a cross-sectional study, carried out in a full-time school from March to April 2022, with convenience sample. Sociodemographic, economic and food insecurity variables were analyzed. Food Insecurity (FI) was measured by the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA). To verify the association between food insecurity (FI) and other variables it was used the Chi-square Test and Fisher's Exact Test. It was observed that of the 78 participating families, half experienced mild (33.3%) or moderate (16.7%) FI. Food insecurity was associated with: presence of brown/black heads of households, single (p=0.019), beneficiaries of cash transfer programs (p≤0.001), with monthly family income of up to 1 minimum wage (p≤0.001), with three or more people in the household (p=0.049), with two or more children (p=0.047). In conclusion, the high proportions of Food Insecurity in half of the families investigated, could reflect the current scenario of dismantling of public policies, combined with health and economic and crisis, which has generated hunger throughout the Brazilian territory. Although it is a vulnerable region, the absence of severe FI could suggest that the National School Feeding Program – PNAE was an important ally in protecting these families against hunger, by providing four meals a day to schoolchildren.