Friend: The island nation of Madagascar is experiencing a severe food shortage, with the southern region suffering its worst drought in 30 years. Deforestation, sandstorms, and other factors—including COVID-19—have created the region’s worst nutrition crisis in decades.

What does this mean for the health and wellbeing of Madagascar's people?

Earlier this summer, the Famine Early Warning System Network projected that crop production in southern Madagascar could be up to 70 percent lower than the five-year average. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has called for a massive increase in urgently needed food aid.

MSF has scaled up its operations in the country to address this nutrition crisis. Emergency teams have set up mobile health clinics to deliver medical assistance in several areas across the region. We worked with Ambovombe hospital and local health authorities to set up an inpatient center for children with acute malnutrition. Since the end of March, we’ve provided critical medical care to 6,000 malnourished children across 20 locations.

However, more is needed as the situation is expected to worsen in October during the annual “lean season,” when people’s stocks from previous seasons will begin to run out and new crops will not yet be ready for harvest. “We suspect the crisis is going to last and that it might get worse during the year,” said MSF Head of Mission Ricardo Fernandez. “We’ll be staying a bit longer than we thought."

Take a moment to learn more about the situation in Madagascar, and what you can do to help.