Madagascar: WFP director in the south due to famine
A child auscultated in a center of the World Food Program (WFP) and the NGO Action Contre la Faim, in the village of Beraketa, in the far south of Madagascar, on November 12, 2020. AP - Laetitia Bezain
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
While the south of Madagascar is experiencing a terrible food crisis, Prime Minister Christian Ntsay received Friday, June 18 the executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), David Beasley, on a courtesy visit to the country, as well as the country director of the organization, Moumini Ouedraogo.
The President of the Republic Andry Rajoelina, traveling to France for private reasons (the confirmation of his daughter), could not receive them.
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With our correspondent in Antananarivo,
Laure Verneau
A courtesy call to talk about the situation in the South.
It is more dramatic than ever, underlines Moumini Ouedraogo, country director of WFP, the world food program.
One and a half million people, half of the region's population, are currently in need of emergency food assistance.
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutritional emergency.
The overall rate of acute malnutrition among children under five has almost doubled in the past four months, even reaching an alarming rate of 16.5 percent, according to a recent assessment by the Malagasy Ministry of Health.
The worst affected district is Ambovombe, where rates have exceeded 27%, putting the lives of many children at risk.
“
We exchanged our points of view on the situation,
explains Moumini Ouedraogo,
and our opinions agree: people are struck by the difficulties.
We must now help them to be autonomous, and therefore to be more resilient.
"
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To read also: The World Food Program is alarmed for Madagascar
No concrete measure
In other words, in addition to food aid, we must lay the foundations for autonomy, he says.
Whether in agriculture, with the use of improved seeds, or water supply projects.
resources should also be used towards this empowerment and awareness.
No concrete measures emerged from this interview, apart from the convergence between the Malagasy government and the UN agency, present in the south since the 1990s.
The causes of this dramatic situation: three consecutive years of drought which wiped out the crops and the Covid-19 pandemic which, since March 2020, has worsened the suffering of the population.
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To read also: Madagascar: the populations of the extreme south victims of drought and food insecurity
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