1
|
Gomes SM, Jacob MCM, Chaves VM, Pereira de Sousa LM, Signorelli MC, Canavese de Oliveira D, de Oliveira Lyra C, Roberto Augusto Noro L. Food insecurity in a Brazilian transgender sample during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0284257. [PMID: 37163501 PMCID: PMC10171619 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 05/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Transgender people often live with social vulnerability, largely promoted by gender-based prejudice. Our aim in this article was to raise preliminary data on how the COVID-19 pandemic and perceived prejudice have contributed to the problem of food and food insecurity in the transgender communities in Brazil. We conducted a web-based cross-sectional study, in which 109 transgender people from all regions of Brazil participated. We used the Chi-Square test and Poisson regression modeling with robust variance to estimate the association between food insecurity and the investigated factors. In our sample, 68.8% of transgender people experienced food insecurity, of these, 20.2% experienced severe food insecurity. Our results showed that the difficulties in purchasing food in the transgender community predate the COVID-19 pandemic, yet that the restrictive measures adopted have also impacted overall access to quality food. However, the main explanations for food insecurity were income and employment. In predicting food insecurity, the experiences of prejudice must be considered, and give rise to the hypothesis that specific conditions to which transgender people are exposed explain, to some degree, their vulnerability to food insecurity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sávio Marcelino Gomes
- Department of Nutrition, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil
| | - Michelle Cristine Medeiros Jacob
- Department of Nutrition, Laboratório Horta Comunitária Nutrir, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
| | - Viviany Moura Chaves
- Department of Nutrition, Laboratório Horta Comunitária Nutrir, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
| | - Luciana Maria Pereira de Sousa
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
| | | | - Daniel Canavese de Oliveira
- Department of Public Health, Universidade federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Clélia de Oliveira Lyra
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
| | - Luiz Roberto Augusto Noro
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
| |
Collapse
|