Lockdown-associated hunger may be affecting breastfeeding: Findings from a large sms survey in South Africa

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Date

2022

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MDPI

Abstract

The impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had, and will continue to have, on food security and child health is especially concerning. A rapid, Short Message Service (SMS) Maternal and Child Health survey was conducted in South Africa in June 2020 (n = 3140), with a follow-up in July 2020 (n = 2287). This was a national cross-sectional survey conducted among pregnant women and mothers registered with the MomConnect mhealth platform. Logistic regression was conducted to explore the associations between breastfeeding, maternal depressive symptoms, and hunger in the household. High breastfeeding initiation rates and the early introduction of other foods or mixed milk feeding were found. The prevalence of depressive symptoms in this survey sample was 26.95%, but there was no association between breastfeeding behaviour and depressive symptom scores (OR = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.63, 1.27).

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Keywords

Breastfeeding, Hunger, Food security, Covid-19, South Africa

Citation

Sayed, N. et al. (2022). Lockdown-associated hunger may be affecting breastfeeding: Findings from a large sms survey in South Africa. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(1), 351. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010351

URI

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010351
 http://hdl.handle.net/10566/7581

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Research Articles (School of Public Health)