[ad_1]
At least half a million children are acutely malnourished in drought-stricken southern Madagascar causing irreversible damage to their growth and development, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) warned on Monday. UNICEF.
Currently, more than 1.14 million people are food insecure in southern Madagascar and the number of people living in “catastrophic” conditions is likely to double to 28,000 by October, agencies said.
“At least half a million children under the age of five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition, 110,000 of whom are in serious condition,” they warned in a statement.
They said the number of acutely malnourished children is likely to quadruple since the previous assessment in October 2020.
Five consecutive years of poor rainfall have wiped out crops and cut off access to food for many people in the region, and the situation is expected to worsen as the lean season approaches.
“What is currently happening in the south of Madagascar is heartbreaking. We cannot turn our backs on these children whose lives are at stake,” lamented Moumini Ouedraogo of WFP Madagascar, calling for “redouble efforts” to lift the funds needed.
Acute malnutrition rates are rising in the worst-affected Ambovombe-Androy district, where more than three-quarters of the population have been affected by a disastrous cocktail of drought and Covid-19 infections, made worse by poor sanitation facilities and sanitation and a lack of water security.
Michel Saint-Lot of UNICEF Madagascar said urgent action was needed to prevent the situation from becoming “even more critical”.
Most of the population of southern Madagascar depends on agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing.
Food production has been dramatically low since 2019.
The scarcity of staple foods on the market is also pushing up prices, UN agencies said, recalling that they had been working with the government since last year to fight famine.
Source link
