Meet the Children of Madagascar

United Nations Children’s Fund

There are 1.02 billion undernourished people in the world today. That means one in nearly six people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead active lives. Hunger and malnutrition are the top health risks worldwide greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

Madagascar is classified as a least developed country and is also a low-income, food-deficit nation. More than 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and over 50 percent of children under three years of age suffers retarded growth, resulting from a chronically inadequate diet. Chronic food insecurity affects 65 percent of the population, with an eight percent increase during the lean season.

Subsistence farming is especially risky in disaster-prone Madagascar. Over the past 35 years, at least 50 natural disasters, including cyclones, drought, epidemics, floods, famines and locust infestations, have been reported, affecting more than 11 million people. The worst recent disaster, cyclone Ivan, affected 330,000 people when it struck northeastern Madagascar in February 2008. However, the country is hit by serious storms almost every year, including a few in early 2009. Insufficient and irregular rainfall in three regions in southern Madagascar in late 2008 and early 2009 had a devastating impact on the country’s main harvest, leaving many vulnerable families in need of assistance in the coming months.

Meanwhile, purchasing power has decreased in many parts of Madagascar, especially in rural areas where farm incomes can’t keep pace with increasing prices for basic necessities. In addition, political instability is exacerbating the already precarious situation for many vulnerable households.

UNICEF seeks to help stem the worst effects of malnutrition by funding and helping countries supply micronutrients like iron and vitamin A, which is essential for a healthy immune system, during vaccination campaigns or through fortified food. UNICEF, governments, salt producers and private sector organizations are also working to eliminate iodine deficiency, the biggest primary cause of preventable mental retardation and brain damage, through the Universal Salt Iodization (USI) education campaign.

UNICEF also works through communities to consult child caregivers about how to provide sound nutrition for children, particularly via breastfeeding. UNICEF assesses the nutritional and health needs of affected people, protects and supports breastfeeding by providing safe havens for pregnant and lactating women, provides essential micronutrients, supports therapeutic feeding centers for severely malnourished children, and provides food for orphans.

Charity GROW is a proud sponsor of the United Nations Children’s Fund.