THE STATE OF FOOD SECURITY AND DIETARY DIVERSITY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN CAMEROON | ...

The first paragraph is an introduction. The planet is now dealing with a dangerous infectious disease that has progressed to the point of being a pandemic: COVID-19.

Its effects on food security is uncertain at this time.

The aim of this research is to determine the dietary diversity and food security of Cameroonian adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Between March and April 2020, a cross-sectional analysis was performed.

Participants completed a wellstructured online questionnaire that consisted of three sections: sociodemographic characteristics, dietary diversity, and food security.SPSS version 26.0 was used to analyse the cleaned results.The adults' average Dietary Diversity Score was 4.0, and 50% of them were food insecure. Food insecurity was found to have a strong negative association with theparticipants' DDS (r = -0.098, p=0.023).

More than half of the participants said fats and oils, cereals, fruits, and roots and tubers were their favourite foods.Males scored substantially higher on the DDS than females (OR: 1.89, 95 percent CI 1.27-2.80). Conclusion: The country's average dietary diversity appears to be poor, and food insecurity is large. Low dietary diversity and food insecurity were found to be determinant predictors of low education and income. As a result of these results, it is clear that programmes aimed at reducing food insecurity and increasing diet diversity in Cameroon must be improved.

Please see the link - https://ikprress.org/index.php/JOMAHR/article/view/6216