Madagascar

In 2022, Madagascar entered the 3rd consecutive year of its worst-ever drought, with the nutritional and food situation deteriorating dramatically, particularly in the Grand Sud.

In addition, the South-East region was severely hit by two cyclones, Batsirai and Emnati, in February 2022, and more recently by cyclone Freddy in March 2023. Although the 2023 agricultural season brought a slight improvement in the situation, the country is now facing a new episode of drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon. According to the latest IPC food and nutrition analyses (Cadre d’Analyse de l’Inécurité Alimentaire et de la Malnutrition), some 1.72 million Madagascans need immediate assistance between now and April 2024, and some 458,700 children under 5 are at risk of acute malnutrition in the Grand Sud and Sud-Est.

In 2023 and 2024, Action contre la Faim and its partners are implementing an emergency strategy in the south and southeast of Madagascar, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the European Commission (DG ECHO), USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs (BHA), and the Comité Interministériel de l’Aide Alimentaire (CIAA). This strategy includes several areas of intervention: 1) Medical and nutritional action by setting up mobile health teams to treat cases of acute malnutrition and childhood illness, including psychosocial support, and support for the Intensive Nutritional Recovery Center (CRENI) in district hospitals. 2) Accompanying communities through psychosocial support and the management of cases of gender-based violence. These two areas are implemented in partnership with the NGOs Action Sociale Organisation de Secours (ASOS) and Médecins du Monde (MdM). 3) The supply of drinking water, a vital need, by tanker trucks and via the rehabilitation of existing infrastructures 4) Emergency food assistance for vulnerable communities via cash transfers benefiting nearly 80,000 people and finally 5) Agricultural recovery to support the next agricultural season and the crisis exit strategy.

In order to always act as early as possible and in anticipation of crises, Action contre la Faim is part of an early action mechanism financed by Start Ready, which aims to define intervention thresholds, target vulnerable areas and propose rapid early action in the event of cyclone and flood forecasts.

At the same time, Action contre la Faim is pursuing its development programs. Thanks to the CONFLUENCES 2 project, co-financed by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the health team continues to support the strengthening of the health system (6-pillar diagnosis and planning) in the Atsimo-Andrefana region in the Grand Sud, in collaboration with health authorities and local partners, and has successfully contributed to the adoption by the Ministry of Public Health of ACF’s methodology at national level. Deployed in the Analamanga, Bongolava and Itasy regions, the MIFAMPIBABY program aims to reduce the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children under 5. This multi-sectoral program, run in partnership with the NGOs Action Inter-coopération Madagascar (AIM) and Centre Ecologique Albert Schweitzer (CEAS), offers a variety of interventions including the development of communication strategies for behavioral change in nutrition practices, care (including sexual and reproductive health) and hygiene practices, early childhood development activities, engagement of civil society platforms for strong advocacy on nutrition, support for high nutritional value agricultural value chains, design and promotion of nutritious infant recipes. The AFAFI-SUD program co-funded by the European Commission (INTPA) and in partnership with AIM will be nearing completion in 2024. This program aims to improve the food security, nutritional status and resilience to climatic hazards of rural households in the districts of Bekily and Betroka through support for agricultural value chains and the conservation of natural resources.

In collaboration with the University of Avignon, Action contre la Faim is continuing its HYDRONUT research project to provide scientific proof of the effects of hydro-climatic variability on nutrition and health in the south of Madagascar.

Finally, 2023 saw the closure of Action contre la Faim’s activities in the city of Antananarivo and its Programme d’Appui à la Sécurité Nutritionnelle (PASAN) in urban areas after more than 10 years of existence. This program, which initially aimed to support the Centre d’Accompagnement Social et d’Appui Nutritionnel (CASAN) for families with one or more children suffering from moderate acute malnutrition, gradually evolved into a more ambitious multi-sectoral program tackling not only undernutrition, but also urban sanitation problems and the lack of sources of income for residents of the capital’s informal settlements.