[Intersectionality and food insecurity in favelas in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil]

Food insecurity has serious implications for populations' health and lives. Many social determinants have been identified, but understanding food insecurity remains limited due to a fragmented view that segregates vulnerability dimensions. This study aims to analyze food (in)security based on an intersectional perspective, having two favelas in Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais State, Brazil) and their surroundings as its studied site. This cross-sectional analysis was carried out with data from the household survey of the BH-Viva Project. Food insecurity was chosen as the outcome variable and the intersectional construction of social vulnerability indicators (sex, race/skin color, and the Socioeconomic Vulnerability Index Sensitive to Food Insecurity - IVSIA, constructed from the domains of work and income, education and housing conditions) was used as the exposure variables. The associations between food insecurity and the exposure variables were estimated by logistic regression models and the effect of the intersectionality categories on food insecurity was obtained by the appropriate interaction terms. Among people in unfavorable socioeconomic conditions (IVSIA), black women were more likely to have food insecurity (OR = 7.50; 95%CI: 3.20-17.58) than black men or white women. Results shows that food insecurity includes intersectional processes of vulnerability that overlap the effects of socioeconomic deprivation, sexism, patriarchy, and racism, thus reinforcing the need for intersectional research to find the patterns and main victims of food insecurity and the urgency of public policies toward these groups' needs.