Inseguridad alimentaria en población adulta ecuatoriana durante el confinamiento por COVID-19-2020, cuantificado por la escala del componente de acceso de la inseguridad alimentaria en el hogar (HFIAS)

Abstract

The objective of this graduating work was to explore food safety along the Ecuadorian population during the confinement for COVID-19 while quantified according to the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). This research which has a non-experimental design and is of a transversal type was carried out with people older than 18 years old in Ecuador. The data was collected through an online survey during the period October 2020 – January 2021. The analysis of the information was completed with the statistical software R 4.0. Thanks to this descriptive and inferential statistical study, the results obtained were useful to evidence that the economical incomes of the population, their ethnic group, and the difficulties to purchase food were, the three factors, statistically significant which affected the food safety of the population of this study. According to this, 54% of the participants are food insecure, 32% are mild food insecure, 13% are moderate food insecure, and 9% are severe food insecure. It was concluded that the levels of food insecurity, which have been measured according to people's experience, is an increasing problem. This problem was assessed only in the context of the pandemic and should continue to be analyzed.