The south of Madagascar suffered the worst drought since 1981 last year. Drought and sandstorms inflicted devastating damage to the fields. Livestock died of starvation and thirst. People ate cacti, locusts or indigestible plant remains. Several thousand people were threatened with starvation. To fight against the effects of this dire famine, we began distributing food to particularly vulnerable groups – children and people suffering from debilitating tuberculosis – in spring 2021, at the height of the crisis. A total of five mobile teams conducted visits in more than 30 locations, including a prison, in the Atsimo-Andrefana and Anosy regions to screen people for signs of malnutrition.
Malnourished children were given a highcalorie therapeutic food: Plumpy’nut peanut paste. Tuberculosis patients were given staple foods, including rice, soy powder and vegetable oil. During the 6–8 weeks of treatment, the patients were examined weekly. If complications occurred or the level of malnutrition was too severe, we organised a referral and treatment at a clinic.

Thanks to the generous support of members of Madagasikara Namako, AMREF Germany and the Vitol Foundation, we were able to screen more than 6,000 children and more than 1,300 tuberculosis patients for malnutrition in 2021, and successfully treat more than 4,000 children and 1,100 tuberculosis patients and their families.