Global perspective Human stories

Madagascar: UN agency provides food for 35,000 malnourished children

Madagascar: UN agency provides food for 35,000 malnourished children

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun distribution of emergency food aid to urban centres in Madagascar to help feed some 35,000 malnourished children affected by the country’s crisis.

WFP said it would provide 350 tons of a corn soya blend - a highly nutritious mixture to make porridge - to feed 18,000 children in the capital, Antananarivo, as well as 17,000 children in five other major cities across the country.

In some areas, malnutrition levels among children under five have risen up to 45 per cent as a result of the crisis that has gripped the country following the presidential elections held last December.

"There is a serious food crisis, particularly among the urban population," said WFP's Country Director for Madagascar, Bodo Henze. "Emergency food relief is absolutely crucial at this stage if we want to prevent a tragedy. Even if political reconciliation is achieved in the short run, the effects of the crisis will be felt for months to come."