TY - JOUR
AU - Pant, Anjali
AU - Chakrabarti, Suman
AU - Headey, Derek
AU - Singh, Nishmeet
AU - Nguyen, Phuong Hong
PY - 2025
DA - October
TI - Women’s Dietary Diversity and Child Feeding Practices Amidst COVID-19 in India: Findings From National Family Health Surveys, 2016-2021
JO - Maternal and Child Nutrition
DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.70104
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic caused a crisis that jeopardized food consumption and dietary diversity. This study aimed to: 1) investigate relationship between COVID-19 and women’s and children’s diets in India; 2) examine how this varies by socio-economic status and mothers' vegetarianism; and 3) assess whether mobility restrictions during India's national lockdown influenced these dietary changes. The analysis drew on data from India’s National Family Health Survey 2015–16 and 2019–21, focusing on 11 states surveyed before and during COVID-19 (N=567,727 women, 141,905 children). COVID-19 exposure was defined as interviews after 24 March 2020 (national lockdown). Outcomes included child feeding practices and women’s food consumption and dietary diversity . The impact of COVID-19 on diets was estimated using a difference-in-difference model; effect of mobility reduction on diets was examined using linear regression. All analyses were adjusted for confounders, interview month, state fixed effects, and sampling weights. Results showed that COVID-19 exposure was linked to significant declines in child feeding practices (-6.9 percentage points [pp] for minimum dietary diversity , -5.0pp for minimum acceptable diet, and -6.1pp for fruit consumption) and women’s diet (-5.7pp for dietary diversity and green vegetable consumption). While magnitude of impact varied across socio-economic sub-strata and mothers’ vegetarianism status, the differences were not statistically significant. The diets of women and children were greatly impacted by mobility reduction. COVID-19 has worsened the diets of women and children in India. More research is needed on the impact of relief measures to strengthen food safety nets nationwide.
PB - Wiley
UR - https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/4e76b692-00b7-4308-b261-d179d319b86f
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
KW - Diet, healthy weight and physical activity
KW - Children, young people and families
ER