Macaninch Elaine, Martyn Kathy, Lima do Vale Marjorie
NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health, Cambridge, UK.
ERimNN (Education and Research in medical Nutrition Network), Brighton, UK.
BMJ Nutr Prev Health. 2020 Sep 12;3(2):374-382. doi: 10.1136/bmjnph-2020-000120. eCollection 2020 Dec.
This paper describes the impact of COVID-19 during the first month of containment measures on organisations involved in the emergency food response in one region of the UK and the emerging nutrition insecurity. This is more than eradicating hunger but considers availability of support and health services and the availability of appropriate foods to meet individual requirements. In particular, this paper considers those in rural communities, from lower socioeconomic groups or underlying health conditions.
Semistructured professional conversations informed the development of a questionnaire which gathered insights from five organisations involved with the emergency food response in the South East, England, UK. Descriptive themes were derived though inductive analysis and are further discussed in relation to UK government food support measures and early published data.
Four themes emerged from conversations, including: (1) increasing demand, (2) meeting the needs of specific groups, (3) awareness of food supply and value of supporting local and (4) concerns over sustainability. All organisations mentioned changes in practice and increased demand for emergency food solutions. Positive, rapid and innovative changes helped organisations to adapt to containment restrictions and to meet the needs of vulnerable people. Although concern was raised with regards to meeting the specific needs of those with underlying health conditions and the sustainability of current efforts.
Considerable gaps in food provision were identified, as well as concerns regarding increased long-term food and nutrition insecurity. The paper makes recommendations to improve nutrition security for the future and considers the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic. The generalisability of these early insights is unknown but these real-time snapshops can help to direct further research and evaluation.
本文描述了在英国一个地区实施防控措施的首个月期间，新冠疫情对参与应急食品响应的组织以及新出现的营养不安全状况所产生的影响。这不仅仅是消除饥饿，还涉及支持和健康服务的可获得性以及满足个人需求的合适食物的可获得性。特别是，本文关注农村社区、社会经济地位较低群体或有基础健康状况的人群。
半结构化专业访谈为问卷的制定提供了依据，该问卷收集了英国英格兰东南部五个参与应急食品响应的组织的见解。通过归纳分析得出描述性主题，并结合英国政府的食品支持措施和早期公布的数据进行进一步讨论。
访谈中出现了四个主题，包括：（1）需求增加，（2）满足特定群体的需求，（3）对食品供应的认识以及支持本地的价值，（4）对可持续性的担忧。所有组织都提到了实践中的变化以及对应急食品解决方案需求的增加。积极、迅速和创新的变化帮助组织适应防控限制并满足弱势群体的需求。尽管有人对满足有基础健康状况者的特定需求以及当前努力的可持续性表示担忧。
确定了食品供应方面存在相当大的差距，以及对长期食品和营养不安全状况加剧的担忧。本文提出了改善未来营养安全的建议，并考虑了从新冠疫情中吸取的教训。这些早期见解的普遍性尚不清楚，但这些实时快照有助于指导进一步的研究和评估。
