The effect of COVID-19 and associated lockdown measures on household consumption, income, and employment: evidence from sub-Saharan African countries
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused huge economic disruptions that affect food and nutrition security in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). At the onset of the pandemic, many governments put in place various containment measures such as restricting free movement of people both within and between countries, closing non-essential businesses and schools, among others. These measures disrupted the food supply chain (increasing transaction costs and availability of certain foods) and limited employment opportunities. As a result, people in LMICs have been negatively affected because many of these countries have poor social safety net programs to mitigate the adverse effects of the pandemic on job and income loss. In this paper, investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures on household consumption and jobs as well as income losses in selected African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, and Uganda) using household survey data.
