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Accepted manuscript

Increased difficulty accessing food and income change during the COVID-19 pandemic among youth living in the eThekwini district, South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2024

Julie Jesson Open the ORCID record for Julie Jesson [Opens in a new window] ,
Bongiwe Zulu ,
Kalysha Closson ,
C. Andrew Basham ,
Mags Beksinska ,
Erica Dong ,
Campion Zharima ,
Rishav Singh ,
Tatiana Pakhomova  and
Janan Dietrich
...Show all authors
Julie Jesson*
Affiliation:
Center for Epidemiology and Research in POPulation Health (CERPOP), Inserm, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
Bongiwe Zulu
Affiliation:
MRU (MatCH Research Unit), Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Durban, South Africa
Kalysha Closson
Affiliation:
University of California San Diego, Center of Gender Equity and Health, La Jolla, CA, USA Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
C. Andrew Basham
Affiliation:
Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Mags Beksinska
Affiliation:
MRU (MatCH Research Unit), Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Durban, South Africa
Erica Dong
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
Campion Zharima
Affiliation:
Perinatal HIV Research Unit (PHRU), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Centre for Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Rishav Singh
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
Tatiana Pakhomova
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
Janan Dietrich
Affiliation:
Perinatal HIV Research Unit (PHRU), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. African Social Sciences Unit of Research and Evaluation (ASSURE), a division of the Wits Health Consortium, Johannesburg, South Africa Health Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Bellville, South Africa
Angela Kaida
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada Women’s Health Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada
*
Corresponding author: Julie Jesson, PhD - Centre d’Epidémiologie et de Recherche en santé des POPulations de Toulouse – CERPOP, UMR 1295 Inserm - Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, 31073 TOULOUSE CEDEX 9, Email: julie.jesson@inserm.fr
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Abstract

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Objective:

To estimate the effect of income change on difficulty accessing food since the COVID-19 pandemic for South African youth, and evaluate whether this effect was modified by receiving social grants.

Design:

A cross-sectional, online survey was conducted between December 2021 and May 2022. Primary outcome was increased difficulty accessing food since the COVID-19 pandemic. Income change was categorized as “Decreased a lot”, “Decreased slightly” and “Unchanged or increased”. Multivariable logistic regressions were used, with an interaction term between social grant receipt and income change.

Setting:

eThekwini district, South Africa

Participants:

Youth aged 16-24 years

Results:

Among 1,620 participants, median age was 22 years (IQR 19-24); 861 (53%) were women; 476 (29%) reported increased difficulty accessing food; 297 (18%) reported that income decreased a lot, of whom 149 (50%) did not receive social grants. Experiencing a large income decrease was highly associated with increased difficulty accessing food during the COVID-19 pandemic (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.63, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 2.70-4.88). The aORs for the effect of a large income decrease on difficulty accessing food, compared to no income change, were 1.49 (95%CI 0.98-2.28) among participants receiving social grants, and 6.63 (95%CI 4.39-9.99) among participants not receiving social grants.

Conclusions:

While social grant support made a great difference in lowering the effect of income decrease on difficulty accessing food, it was insufficient to fully protect youth from those difficulties. In post-pandemic recovery efforts, there is a critical need to support youth through economic empowerment programming and food schemes.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Accepted manuscript , pp. 1 - 30
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Authors 2024