THE CONTEXT OF FOOD (IN)SECURITY AND INFECTIOUS AND PARASITIC DISEASES: AN INTEGRATIVE LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Food insecurity and Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (IPD) are important public health problems and act synergistically in the morbidity and mortality of people in all countries of the world. The national and international scientific literature provides direct evidence about the interface between nutritional status and susceptibility to ILD, considering that eating, social and environmental behaviors are intrinsically linked to a greater or lesser occurrence of infectious and parasitic diseases in the human population. An integrative review of the global scientific literature was carried out on the role of food (in)security in morbidity and mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases in Brazil and in the world, considering recent scientific publications (2014 to 2022). For inclusion, studies must be published in journals with high scientific quality (up to Qualis B2). A shortage of publications of qualified studies was identified. After rigorous analysis, 17 scientific articles available in the following databases were included: Latin American Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS), Medical Literature and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health (PubMED) and Virtual Health Library (BVS/OPAS). The greatest thematic diversity according to the geographical orientation of the analyzes were studies whose approach included food systems, nutritional status and anemia in children and adolescents. The context of food (in)security has a multifactorial etiology, determined by a variety of biological, genetic, psychological, sociocultural and family factors that interact to result in the development and persistence of ILD. The identified studies strengthen the reflection on the important impact that the context of the SAS-COv-2 pandemic may have had on the epidemiology of IPD, especially in socioeconomically vulnerable locations where people live in situations of food insecurity.