Dietary Diversity of Young Children During CoVID-19 Outbreak: A Longitudinal Study

The 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic has had far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the disease. Quarantine measures during a public health pandemic can be particularly detrimental to urban poor families and affect the dietary diversity and food security. This can disproportionately affect young children aged 6 and below, and severely impact those \<2 years. Sudden unemployment may result in an unexpected reduction in income that will place pressure on daily budgets for food. Children of families may not have access to foods of adequate diversity that will enable them to meet their macro and micronutrient requirements for growth and development, especially during the Movement Control Order (MCO). The study plans to monitor and evaluate dietary diversity in young children's food intake after the MCO and use the collected information to direct targeted food aid to address observed macro- and micronutrient deficiencies among the urban vulnerable group.