Lin Tracy Kuo, Kafri Rawan, Hammoudeh Weeam, Mitwalli Suzan, Jamaluddine Zeina, Ghattas Hala, Giacaman Rita, Leone Tiziana
Institute for Health & Aging, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
Middle East Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.
Confl Health. 2022 Jul 6;16(1):38. doi: 10.1186/s13031-022-00470-0.
Conflict reduces availability of production input and income, increases the number of days households had to rely on less preferred foods, and limits the variety of foods eaten and the portion size of meals consumed. While existing studies examine the impact of conflict on different food security measures (e.g., Food Consumption Score, Food Insecurity Experience Scale), the relationship between these measures as well as their relationship with political, economic, and agricultural factors remain under explored. Food insecurity may not only be an externality of conflict but also food deprivation may be utilized as a weapon to discourage residency in contested territories or to incentivize rebellions.
This paper examines the association between political factors (e.g., violence, policies that require permit for passage in one's own hometown), economic factors (e.g., loss of assets, unemployment), agricultural factors (e.g., shortage of water, poor weather conditions), and food insecurity experience and dietary diversity in a conflict setting-that of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). The study employs generalized structural equation models to analyze the 'Survey on socio-economic conditions for Palestinian households 2014' dataset compiled by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics-which contains a representative sample of the population in the oPt at governorate and locality levels.
We find that in the West Bank, residence in Area C-administered by Israel in both civil and security issues and contains illegal Israeli settlements and outposts-is associated with a higher level of agricultural hardship (p < 0.01) but lower economic hardship (p < 0.01) and a higher dietary diversity (p < 0.001), as compared to those living outside of Area C. In the Gaza Strip, living within one kilometer to a buffer zone is associated with lower dietary diversity (p < 0.01), higher level of political hardship (p < 0.01), and higher level food insecurity experience (p < 0.01) compared to not living in close proximity to a buffer zone. Concomitantly, in the Gaza Strip, food insecurity experience is associated with approximately a one-point reduction in dietary diversity as measured by the food consumption score (p < 0.01).
The results suggest that broader socio-political conditions in the oPt impact different aspects of food security through augmenting the economic and agricultural hardships that are experienced by the residents. As such, it is important to address these broader political and economic structures in order to have more sustainable interventions in reducing food insecurity.
冲突减少了生产投入和收入的可得性，增加了家庭不得不依赖不太受欢迎食物的天数，并限制了所吃食物的种类和每餐的食量。虽然现有研究考察了冲突对不同粮食安全衡量指标（如食物消费得分、粮食不安全经历量表）的影响，但这些指标之间的关系以及它们与政治、经济和农业因素的关系仍有待探索。粮食不安全可能不仅是冲突的一种外部效应，而且食物匮乏可能被用作一种武器，以阻止人们居住在有争议的领土或激励叛乱。
本文考察了政治因素（如暴力、在自己家乡需要通行证的政策）、经济因素（如资产损失、失业）、农业因素（如水短缺、恶劣天气条件）与被占领巴勒斯坦领土（oPt）冲突背景下的粮食不安全经历和饮食多样性之间的关联。该研究采用广义结构方程模型来分析巴勒斯坦中央统计局编制的“2014年巴勒斯坦家庭社会经济状况调查”数据集，该数据集包含oPt省和地区层面具有代表性的人口样本。
我们发现，在约旦河西岸，居住在C区（在民事和安全问题上由以色列管理，包含以色列非法定居点和前哨）与更高程度的农业困难相关（p < 0.01），但经济困难较低（p < 0.01），饮食多样性更高（p < 0.001），与居住在C区以外的人相比。在加沙地带，与不住在缓冲区附近的人相比，居住在距缓冲区一公里范围内与较低的饮食多样性（p < 0.01）、更高程度的政治困难（p < 0.01）和更高程度的粮食不安全经历（p < 0.01）相关。同时，在加沙地带，粮食不安全经历与食物消费得分衡量的饮食多样性大约降低一分相关（p < 0.01）。
结果表明，oPt更广泛的社会政治状况通过加剧居民所经历的经济和农业困难，影响粮食安全的不同方面。因此，为了在减少粮食不安全方面进行更可持续的干预，解决这些更广泛的政治和经济结构问题很重要。
