Ensuring food security amid the pandemic

Bangladesh has achieved remarkable improvement in the health and nutritional status of its citizens since independence. The country is often cited globally for its success stories in the health sector. However, health and nutritional of the population in Bangladesh still faces certain challenges which has been exacerbated by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic and its rapid spread has disrupted the life and livelihood of the population, but most damaging impacts have been on the poor and the most vulnerable sections of the population. Unless proper mitigation measures are taken on time, the pandemic will jeopardize their nutrition status even further. A significant number of people have become poorer and are being forced to reduce their food consumption.

Reduced calorie intake and compromised nutrition threaten gains in poverty reduction and health Bangladesh has made over the years. The pandemic is estimated to have dramatically increased the number of people facing acute food insecurity. According to a World Bank brief published this year, the impacts triggered by the pandemic "have led to severe and widespread increases in global food insecurity with impacts expected to continue through 2021 and into 2022".

The government has displayed its concern about the potentially devastating impacts the pandemic can have on the health and nutrition status of its people. According to an agency report published in this newspaper on Wednesday Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stressed united efforts to address the Covid-19 challenges and its impacts on public health as the pandemic has marked a significant setback on the nutrition initiatives. The prime minister said this while virtually addressing the "Tokyo Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit 2021" held in Japan. "Urgent actions and united efforts are needed to address the challenges of Covid-19, along with its impacts on public health and nutrition," she said.

The prime minister sought the cooperation of the international community to tackle the challenges of Covid-19, including its impact on nutrition programs. The prime minister said that her government’s initiatives to enhance nutrition status of disadvantaged people are bearing fruit as the country is on track for achieving its child nutrition goals. And malnutrition rates have also declined.

It should be admitted that while Bangladesh has taken giant strides in reducing hunger and poverty much more needs to be done. While the percentage of people suffering from hunger has gone down drastically in terms of sheer number a sizeable portion of the people here still cannot afford three square meals a day. The Global Food Security Index 2020 ranked Bangladesh 84th out of 113 countries globally. This is something no country can be proud of. Especially as Bangladesh’s ranking was worse than other South Asian countries like India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Myanmar. The catastrophic external shock of the Covid-19 pandemic and the various restrictive measures have led to disruption in the daily balance in food intake. While the pandemic has slowed down considerably there is always the chance that things might get back to square one–especially as the potentially dangerous variant of Omicron looms in the horizon.

This ongoing pandemic has been a long lasting one. What is quite alarming that this current pandemic is not only affecting the health and nutrition status of the ultra-poor but also people who were not poor prior to the pandemic due to debt, temporary or permanent job loss, and severe illnesses. Quite obviously, income loss and food insecurity are strongly correlated factors. An increasingly greater number of people are being forced to cut down on the quantity and quality of their food consumption.

Experts believe that there is inadequate health financing in Bangladesh in addition to inefficient use of existing resources. Lack of good governance, transparency and accountability are key challenges facing the public health sector. The government ought to take proactive measures to fend off long-term damages that the Covid-19 pandemic might leave on the health and nutrition of the people.