Análisis de la inseguridad alimentaria durante el período de confinamiento por COVID-19 medido por la escala FIES en adultos ecuatorianos. 2020

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the prevalence of food insecurity during the time of confinement by COVID -19 in Ecuador 2020. Methodology: it is a cross-sectional, observational study. An online survey was carried out where 503 Ecuadorian adults between the ages of 18 and 65, for statistical validation, only 224 responses. A survey was applied in two categories: 1) Sociodemographic data, 2) Food insecurity questions. For this, the survey "Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) for the Measurement of the Severity of Food Insecurity" was used, the statistical program SPSS Studio was used. For the analysis of the variables of the Food Insecurity, the tool FIES App was used. Results: Ecuadorian households presented a prevalence of moderate food insecurity of 22.94%, in terms of severe food insecurity it presents 5.72%. Most of the items present a moderate severity with an acceptable value to the Infit model of 0.7 - 1.3, that is, the respondents adequately understand the eight questions of the FIES. It is worrisome that most of the participants spend the whole day without eating with a severity of 2.79. On the other hand, the participants between the ages 18 and 30 present a serious food insecurity of 15.6%; consequently, it was also observed that there is greater serious food insecurity in the highland region with 5.8%. It is concluded that confinement period due to COVID-19 is related to the prevalence of food insecurity in Ecuadorian adults. The population with the highest prevalence of mild food insecurity is the female gender with 13.5% compared to the male gender with 89%. It is recommended to reactivate and strengthen the Food and Nutrition Security Plan adapting to sanitary measures to reduce the prevalence of food insecurity.