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Antananarivo (Agenzia Fides) - Nearly one million children in Madagascar suffer from acute malnutrition. The current drought, one of the worst ever seen, has burned rice and cassava crops, leaving 80% of the population without a safe food supply. Many agrarian communities rely on food aid and cactus fruits, which in the south represents emergency food, but hard to digest and can cause intestinal problems that exacerbate the effects of malnutrition.
This crisis is the main health problem for the government, according to the Ministry of Health of Madagascar. Food insecurity not only affects single mothers and their children, according to information sent to Fides, it is a phenomenon that affects the whole community. The warning of humanitarian operators is that Madagascar is "not on the map" forgotten by the international community.
There has been no proper rain for 5 years, and a hailstorm destroyed crops of corn, sweet potatoes, and watermelons in 2010. Land has become less fertile and therefore harvest since then has not recovered. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 22/06/2016)
