Adolescents belonging to lower income group (less than Tk 0.1 million annual income) consumed only 2.2 full meals a day compared to those from higher income group (over Tk 0.4 million annual income) who consumed 2.7 meals a day on average, a survey showed.
Over 36 per cent adolescents were moderately/severely affected by food insecurity during the Covid-19, higher than the national average of 31.5 per cent for adults during the pre-Covid-19 situation.
Highest prevalence of "moderate or severe" (42.9 per cent) and "severe" (11.8 per cent) food insecurity was found in those who reported decreased income.
It was found that Dhaka and Khulna have the lowest Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD) among all divisions. Dhaka and Khulna had 30 per cent dietary diversity, followed by Chattogram about 35 per cent, Barishal 38 per cent, Sylhet 40 percent, Rajshahi 48 per cent, Rangpur about 53 per cent and Mymensingh 60 per cent.
These were revealed during a webinar on 'A Rapid Survey of Youth on Covid-19 Related Nutrition Awareness, Behaviour and Food Security in Bangladesh' on Monday.
Press Institute of Bangladesh and Food and Agriculture Programme Bangladesh jointly organised the webinar supported by USAID and EU. About 30 journalists covering health and agriculture beat participated in the webinar.
Pragyan Behera, Planning and Coordination Specialist, MUCH Project, FAO and Bhami Vora, Nutrition Specialist, MUCH project presented the survey results. PIB director general Zafar Wazed made the closing remarks.
The survey was conducted via social media like Facebook and Twitter by sharing a questionnaire among 675 youths aged between 10 and 24 years from eight divisions for 20 days.
One-third of them belong to lower income group and 71 per cent are college students.
About 73 per cent of the respondents claimed decreased family income compared to the previous months before the Covid-19 crisis.
In her presentation, Bhami Vora said lifestyle behaviours, such as physical activity (PA) and sedentary lifestyle, had been drastically impacted due to the prolonged school closures and home confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Poor diets impact the nutritional status of adolescents and youths, leave students susceptible to illness, and result in reduced productivity, poor academic and work performance. Poorest of the poor were most affected along with haor, flood-prone zones, she added.
She also said the price of food including animal protein and vegetables shot up during Covid-19 outbreak. It was found that the respondents mostly consumed cereals than micronutrient-rich food.
It was found from the survey that youths and adolescents have good knowledge on precautions to be taken to prevent Covid-19.
Speakers said the supply chain was severely hampered during covid outbreak along with disruption of people's movement and transportation that made quality and diversified foods unavailable to the people. The problem was totally different during the pandemic compared to that of the 2008 economic depression.
But they argued that nutrition is not only an issue of food but it's a policy issue which relates environment, water, sanitation, hygiene, clean air, physical exercise, food safety, food security, production and marketing system, social protection strategy, behavioural change, resource conservation and prevention of non-communicable diseases.
The speakers also criticized the government's overemphasis policy on rice production than other micronutrient foods. The policy must have nutrition target while pricing policy should be adjusted. The time for nutrition awareness has already expired, they added.
Senior nutrition adviser of MUCH project Lalita Bhatta charjee said there are adequate integrated policies but largely challenges are related to nutrition behaviour and practices, with due consideration of cost and access to healthy and diversified food.
The survey showed that food handling, preparation, cooking and storing along with knowledge on cleanliness and personal hygiene were found to be relevant among adolescents to mitigate infections that can probably be acquired from eating contaminated food (purchased from outside).
The majority of the respondents have poor knowledge and awareness on the concept of food groups.
The survey suggested consulting with women and adolescents for planning and implementation of Covid-19 nutrition response; disseminating widely Covid-19 related prevention and response messages to protect women, adolescent boys and girls, youths and other vulnerable groups and engaging youths in decision-making processes for Covid-19 responses.
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