Food crises and their coping strategies in war-affected communities in Tigray, North Ethiopia: A community-based study

Abstract

Abstract Communities afflicted by armed conflict are characterized by pervasive malnutrition and widespread hunger. For nearly two years, there has been an unbroken conflict in Tigray. However, little is understood about the coping mechanisms people used in reaction to a lack of food and a siege. This study was conducted to evaluate the coping mechanisms used by urban residents of Mekelle City in Tigray Northern Ethiopia. A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 315 randomly selected households in Mekelle city. Data were collected from May to June 2022 using a pre-tested structured questionnaire and entered, cleaned, coded, and analyzed using Stata version 14. We used descriptive statistics to describe the mean, frequency distribution, and percentages. The t-test was used to analyze the consumption-based coping strategy index. According to the current analysis, 272 (87%) of the remaining households had food shortages. Meal size reduction was a consumption-based coping technique used by 101 (32.6%) households. Similar to this, 85 (27.3%) of the studied homes reduced the quality of their meals or substituted less favored dishes. Likewise, roughly 72 (23.2%) of the households skipped meals as a coping mechanism. In conclusion, the study revealed that the communities affected by the war faced a tough struggle due to the food crisis. The study highlights the food crisis in war-affected communities, highlighting coping mechanisms like reducing meal quantity, quality, and eating less desirable foods. Thus, targeted food ration distributions and blanket supplemental feeding programs should be in place to reduce acute malnutrition and mortality, enabling recovery and recovery.