madagascar

The community in Maroalomainty in the south of Madagascar has planted vegetation to mitigate the effects of climate change.
UN Madagascar

Climate change and hunger in Madagascar: a UN Resident Coordinator blog

21 August 2021
Climate and Environment

In the south of Madagascar, known as the Grand Sud, hundreds of thousands of people are suffering from one of the worst droughts in the region in 40 years, the most senior UN official in the country has said, warning that the population is facing a severe humanitarian crisis.

The combined effects of the drought, COVID-19 and the insecurity upsurge have undermined the already fragile food security and nutrition situation of the population of southern Madagascar.
WFP/Tsiory Andriantsoarana

Child malnutrition expected to quadruple in Southern Madagascar  

26 July 2021
Humanitarian Aid

At least half a million children under five in drought-afflicted southern Madagascar are on the verge of acute malnourishment, two UN agencies warned on Monday. 

Drought and poverty have led to severe hunger in southern Madagascar.
© WFP/Tsiory Andriantsoarana

Madagascar’s hungry ‘holding on for dear life’, WFP chief warns

23 June 2021
Health

Thousands of families in southern Madagascar are on the edge of starvation, and “holding on for dear life”, the UN food agency chief said on Wednesday - after bearing witness to the suffering firsthand - urging the world to step-up and take action. 


 

Dateline Geneva Podcast
UN News

UN Catch-Up Dateline Geneva - Madagascar crisis, Africa COVID alert, US lifts vaccine protections, South Sudan schools reopen

6 May 2021
UN Catch-Up Dateline Geneva

In this week’s UN Catch-Up: a veteran aid worker’s take on the distressing scale of the humanitarian crisis in Southern Madagascar – it’s on the “periphery of famine”, he tells us, and not for the first time.

There’s an alert too from WHO on Africa where a “third wave “of coronavirus infections is feared, along with some good news – and some not so good - from South Sudan, where schools have reopened after lockdown, and positive news from the United States, which has decided to lift patent restrictions on COVID vaccines. 

Audio -
15'1"
A mother waits to receive food for her child in drought-affected southern Madagascar.
© WFP/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony

News in Brief 30 April 2021

30 April 2021
News in Brief
  • Southern Madagascar on 'periphery' of famine: WFP
  • Top UN Middle East official calls for new and timely Palestinian elections
  • Chad: human rights office profoundly disturbed over violence against protesters
Audio -
3'11"
A mother waits to receive food for her child in drought-affected southern Madagascar.
© WFP/Fenoarisoa Ralaiharinony

Madagascar edges toward famine, UN food agency appeals for assistance

29 April 2021
Humanitarian Aid

An unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar, an island State off the East African coast in the Indian Ocean, is forcing hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine at a scale “beyond belief”, a senior UN food agency official said on Thursday. 

Residents in the drought affected communities of Ifotaka, southern Madagascar, collect food assistance provided by the UN World Food Progamme.
© WFP/Tsiory Andriantsoarana

After drought and failed harvests, people of Madagascar reduced to eating mud 

13 January 2021
Interviews

After years of drought, and with what little the people of Madagascar have managed to grow, destroyed by flashflooding, more than 1.3 million are in crisis - and some are even eating ground-up clay just to survive.  

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, WFP’s regional director for southern Africa, Lola Castro, explains how the UN agency is helping by empowering communities to withstand future climate shocks

Audio -
11'14"
A child undergoes a malnutrition test in Madagascar.
WFP/Tsiory Andriantsoarana

Humanitarian crisis looms in Madagascar amid drought and pandemic

12 January 2021
Humanitarian Aid

In southern Madagascar, “famine-like conditions” have doubled the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance compared with last year, to more than 1.3 million. Successive droughts and a lack of jobs linked to COVID-19 restrictions are to blame, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was the first vaccine to be authorized for use in some countries.
BioNTech

News in Brief 12 January 2021

12 January 2021
News in Brief
  • Health agency chief urges COVID-19 vaccinations for ‘high-risk’ populations 
  • UN rights chief: Peru law enforcement used excessive force in mass demonstrations 
  • Humanitarian crisis looms in Madagascar amid drought and pandemic 
Audio -
3'44"
The combined effects of the drought, COVID-19 and the insecurity upsurge have undermined the already fragile food security and nutrition situation of the population of southern Madagascar.
WFP/Tsiory Andriantsoarana

Rising hunger in drought-stricken southern Madagascar forcing families to eat insects: WFP

27 November 2020
Humanitarian Aid

Hunger is on the rise in southern Madagascar due to consecutive years of drought,  affecting half the region’s population, or 1.5 million people, and forcing most families to eat insects, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Friday.