Madagascar fights the issues of drought, famine and chronic malnutrition

Elevate Christian Network :: Humanitarian Relief News

Droughts and famines tend to afflict countries in cyclical fashion. But where chronic malnutrition is endemic, such as Madagascar, they strike harder – sharply increasing the risks for already-vulnerable children, according to research led by professors at Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University.

Madagascar – Providing Children with a Healthy Diet

But the challenge – and potential solution – lies not just in funding, but in changing attitudes. Health education is a strong start. But in this heavily agricultural country, where 92 percent of the population lives on less than $2 per day, parents may well feel that any extra bit of food not needed for survival is most useful if it can be sold for money. Persuading them that there is greater long-term value in providing their children with a healthy diet is key.

For other families, however, ignorance about nutrition is the first hurdle. “When they eat rice and a leafy vegetable or a potato, people think they have eaten properly,” says Leonide Rasoahenikaja, a nutritionist working with UNICEF. “And they have no idea how good soybeans are for kids,” Dr. Rasoahenikaja adds. “Farmers feed it to their cattle and their pigs, and they see milk production go up and their pigs getting fat, but it does not occur to them to give it to their children.”  Read the full story…. csmonitor.com

 

Feeding Street Children in Madagascar – Joyce Meyer Ministries

(Joyce Meyer Ministries) Through a partnership with Empowerment Advocates International in Antananarivo, Madagascar, we’re helping feed hungry children. There are an estimated 50,000 children living on the streets of this capital city.

 

More resources:

UNICEF humanitarian airlift arrives in Madagascar in aid of thousands affected by Cyclone Enawo – UNICEF (press release) ANTANANARIVO – A cargo flight carrying 79 tons of humanitarian supplies has arrived in the capital of Madagascar as part of the UN Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) ongoing response to Cyclone Enawo which caused significant damage in the …

 

In Madagascar, mothers weep and send their children to bed without water to drink – Los Angeles Times Each year, farmers in southern Madagascar sow their seeds in November for the rainy season, but in recent years the skies have only spluttered sulkily for a few weeks, before drying up and searing the immature crops. … Humanitarian agencies such as …

 

 

Drought causes extreme hunger in Madagascar – National Catholic Reporter Hunger levels are so severe in drought-ridden southern Madagascar that many people in remote villages have eaten almost nothing but cactus fruit for up to four years, said a Catholic Relief Services official. Eating this fruit leaves crimson stains on …

 

 

See also: Humanitarian Relief News | Global Humanitarians at Elevate Christian Network

 

Images courtesy: unicef.org, latimes.com, ncronline.org

 

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