A Municipal-level analysis of secular trends in severe food insecurity in Brazil between 2004 and 2013

A segment of the Brazilian population lives in households experiencing severe food insecurity (SFI). We used logistic regression models to assess the secular trend of SFI in Brazilian municipalities, between the years of 2004 and 2013. At the state-level, there was a reduction of the prevalence of SFI during this period, with reduction rates ranging from −2.5% to −75.2% with only one state showing positive increase in SFI. The inter and intra-regional/state variation of SFI found in 2004 remained in 2013, although it was less pronounced. Brazil is currently experiencing a serious economic and political crisis that calls for continuing monitoring of SFI. This study is very relevant for the rest of the world as it shows that experience based food security scales can provide a very useful indicator for policy makers as it can track severe SFI across time from the national to the municipal level.