ANTANANARIVO - The United Nations World Food Programme today welcomed a EUR 1.5 million contribution from France to help treat and prevent acute malnutrition among young children in southern Madagascar, which is reeling from three consecutive years of devastating drought.
The donation will ensure the provision of specialised nutritious foods to more than 39,000 children under five years in hard-hit districts and fund the setting up of vegetable gardens to encourage better, more diversified diets. The French contribution will support the "MIARO" programme meaning "protect" in Malagasy, aiming to prevent chronic malnutrition by providing a set of interventions focused on the first thousand days of a child's life including distribution of specialized nutritious foods and the creation of vegetable gardens to support diet diversification.
This contribution comes at time of highest scarcity of food at end of the lean season and in addition to the contributions received from France in the past 3 years of EUR 3.2 million.
"We are very grateful to France for this timely contribution, coming as it is the end of the lean season", said Pasqualina Di Sirio, WFP's Country Director in Madagascar. "This grant will allow us to pursue the national goal of reducing the malnutrition that is still prevalent in the Great South."
Data from nutritional assessments conducted in January 2022 showed an improvement in the nutritional situation, thanks mainly to the assistance. "But there is still a lot to be done," Di Sirio warned.
This latest contribution brings to EUR 4.7 million France's donations to WFP in Madagascar in the last three years.
"France has been actively engaged for years in the fight against the scourge of malnutrition. It fully supports the efforts of the international community and NGOs to fight against the nutritional crisis that has hit southern Madagascar, by supporting the WFP's response, and thus helping the most destitute children," said Christophe Bouchard, Ambassador of France in Madagascar.
According to the latest analysis, more than 954,000 people - or 31 percent of the Great South's population - is expected to experience "crisis" or "emergency" food insecurity by the end of August 2022, including over 300,000 children suffering acute malnutrition.
