The COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on diet quality and food prices in sub-Saharan Africa

Abbas Ismail; Isabel Madzorera; Edward A Apraku; Amani Tinkasimile; Dielbeogo Dasmane; Pascal Zabre; Millogo Ourohire; Nega Assefa; Angela Chukwu; Firehiwot Workneh; Frank Mapendo; Bruno Lankoande; Elena Hemler; Dongqing Wang; Sulemana W Abubakari; Kwaku P Asante; Till Baernighausen; Japhet Killewo; Ayoade Oduola; Ali Sie; Abdramane Soura; Said Vuai; Emily Smith; Yemane Berhane; Wafaie W Fawzi

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0279610

The COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on diet quality and food prices in sub-Saharan Africa

PLoS One. 2023 Jun 29;18(6):e0279610. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279610. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Abbas Ismail¹, Isabel Madzorera^{2

3}, Edward A Apraku⁴, Amani Tinkasimile⁵, Dielbeogo Dasmane⁶, Pascal Zabre⁷, Millogo Ourohire⁷, Nega Assefa⁸, Angela Chukwu⁹, Firehiwot Workneh¹⁰, Frank Mapendo⁵, Bruno Lankoande⁶, Elena Hemler¹⁰, Dongqing Wang¹⁰, Sulemana W Abubakari⁴, Kwaku P Asante⁴, Till Baernighausen¹¹, Japhet Killewo¹², Ayoade Oduola¹³, Ali Sie⁷, Abdramane Soura⁷, Said Vuai¹, Emily Smith^{14

15}, Yemane Berhane¹⁰, Wafaie W Fawzi^{3

16

17}

Affiliations

¹ College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, University of Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania.
² Division of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States of America.
³ Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States of America.
⁴ Kintampo Health Research Center, Research and Development Division, Ghana Health Service, Kintampo, Bono East Region, Ghana.
⁵ Africa Academy for Public Health, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
⁶ Institut Supérieur des Sciences de la Population, University of Ouagadougou, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
⁷ Nouna Health Research Center, Nouna, Burkina Faso.
⁸ College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Harar, Ethiopia.
⁹ Department of Statistics, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
¹⁰ Addis Continental Institute of Public Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
¹¹ Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹² Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
¹³ University of Ibadan Research Foundation, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
¹⁴ Department of Global Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States of America.
¹⁵ Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States of America.
¹⁶ Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States of America.
¹⁷ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States of America.

Abstract

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa faces prolonged COVID-19 related impacts on economic activity, livelihoods and nutrition, with recovery slowed down by lagging vaccination progress.

Objective: This study investigated the economic impacts of COVID-19 on food prices, consumption and dietary quality in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania.

Methods: We conducted a repeated cross-sectional study using a mobile platform to collect data from July-December, 2021 (round 2). We assessed participants' dietary intake of 20 food groups over the previous seven days and computed the primary outcome, the Prime Diet Quality Score (PDQS), and Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), with higher scores indicating better quality diets. We used generalized estimating equation (GEE) linear regression models to assess factors associated with diet quality during COVID-19.

Results: Most of the respondents were male and the mean age was 42.4 (±12.5) years. Mean PDQS (±SD) was low at 19.4(±3.8), out of a maximum score of 40 in this study. Respondents (80%) reported higher than expected prices for all food groups. Secondary education or higher (estimate: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.32, 1.15), medium wealth status (estimate: 0.48, 95% CI: 0.14, 0.81), and older age were associated with higher PDQS. Farmers and casual laborers (estimate: -0.60, 95% CI: -1.11, -0.09), lower crop production (estimate: -0.87, 95% CI: -1.28, -0.46) and not engaged in farming (estimate: -1.38, 95% CI: -1.74, -1.02) were associated with lower PDQS.

Conclusion: Higher food prices and lower diet quality persisted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic and social vulnerability and reliance on markets (and lower agriculture production) were negatively associated with diet quality. Although recovery was evident, consumption of healthy diets remained low. Systematic efforts to address the underlying causes of poor diet quality through transforming food system value chains, and mitigation measures, including social protection programs and national policies are critical.

Copyright: © 2023 Ismail et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Burkina Faso
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Diet
Female
Humans
Male
Pandemics*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by institutional support from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA (WF); Harvard University Center for African Studies, Boston, MA (WF); Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, Germany (TB), and the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health, Washington, DC (ES). The funders have no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.