Key lessons learned from food insecurity during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Arab countries

Suzan Abdel‐Rahman and Mohamed R Abonazel

Economic Affairs, 2025, vol. 45, issue 1, 100-122

Abstract: This article aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the main drivers of food insecurity in five understudied Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region (Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Sudan, and Morocco) during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Unlike previous studies, this article explains the lessons learned from the pandemic to inform appropriate responses to any future crises. The study used the Combined COVID‐19 MENA Monitor Household Survey (CCMMHH), compiled by the Economic Research Forum in 2020–21. To determine the key factors affecting food insecurity, multivariate regression with fixed effects for waves and administrative zones was employed to capture the unobservable factors. Permanent and temporary loss of jobs and decrease in wages were identified as significant independent risk factors for experiencing food insecurity. Work characteristics played a significant role in shaping food security in the surveyed Arab countries. The pandemic has highlighted the social groups whose food security must be protected to achieve economic stability in light of such crises.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/ecaf.12683

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:ecaffa:v:45:y:2025:i:1:p:100-122

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0265-0665

Access Statistics for this article

Economic Affairs is currently edited by Philip Booth

More articles in Economic Affairs from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().