The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis.
Most districts in the South are in the grip of a nutrition emergency with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five almost doubling over the last four months, touching an alarming 16.5 percent, as per a recent assessment conducted by the Ministry of Health. Worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM has crossed 27 percent, putting the lives of many children at risk. Children with acute malnutrition are four times more likely to die than healthy children.
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