Hunger during the COVID-19 crisis in Cayenne (French Guiana) and its surroundings

Introduction - In French Guiana, the French Red Cross (CRf), Doctors of the World (MdM) and the Permanence d'acces aux soins de sante (Pass) of Cayenne Hospital caring for precarious people during lockdowns, observed difficulty in access to food So, they decided to conduct a survey to quantify food insecurity among their recipients Materials and methods - This survey was based on face-to-face questionnaires proposed to any adults visiting the care center of CRf or MdM or Pass situated in Cayenne and its surroundings The questionnaire measured the household food insecurity using 3 tools: food consumption score (FCS), Coping Strategies Index (rCSI) and Household Hunger Scale (HHS) Results - Two hundred and twenty-one households were included in the survey The results demonstrated that two in five households had insufficient food consumption in the seven past days and over 80% of households suffered from hunger during the past month To overcome the problem of food shortages, 36% of households adopted severe coping strategies likely to have negative long-term effects For most of the households assessed, the weekly food budget had fallen during COVID-19 crisis and nearly half of households had 30 euros or less to feed the whole family Discussion and conclusion - The survey conducted among people visiting the care centers near the precarious neighborhoods of Cayenne and its surroundings documented the real and alarming food insecurity of the households investigated More studies would be needed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on household food and nutrition insecurity in French Guiana