Food consumption and coping strategies of urban-households in Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

Abstract

Background and Objective: The COVID-19 has prompted many countries to adopt temporary “lockdown” as an approach to curtail viral spread. This study investigated the food consumption and coping strategies of urban-households in Nigeria during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Methods: This cross-sectional, web-based study employed a snowball sampling technique to recruit 477 household heads/spouses living in cities/towns of six Nigerian states by encouraging those sent the survey questionnaire link to share with their eligible contacts. Logistic regression was used to reveal the socio-economic determinants of households’ food consumption and coping strategies, as reported on self-administered questionnaires. Respondents were asked to retrospectively indicate how lockdown affected their food consumption. Results: More than half (55.7%) of respondents and 50.8% of their spouses reported a decline in their earning capacity. A high (>4days/week) mean consumption frequency of six food groups was reported. Consuming less expensive (mean, 2.64 ± SD 2.44 days/week) or less preferred foods (1.93 ± 2.04 days/week), and meal rationing (limit portions at meal time -1.50 ± 2.11 days/week, reduce meal number- 1.4 ± 2.19 days/week, limit adults intake- 1.28 ± 2.18 days/week) were the most common coping strategies adopted by the households.. The likelihood of adopting coping strategies was significantly higher amongst households with income decline, the less educated and self-employed categories. Conclusion: In this study, a high frequency of diverse food consumption and mild adoption of food related coping strategies was generally observed, however the impact of the lockdown on food coping strategies was significantly felt by some groups. Efforts to target social assistance programs to these disadvantaged groups should be promoted, as it will strengthen their resilience to cope with food crisis.