Southern Madagascans are facing their worst drought in forty years, with women and children forced to walk long miles to get food.
A destructive drought has grounded food yields in the region with the World Food Programme warning the rest of the world about the humanitarian emergency in the country.
At least 1.14million Madagascans are food insecure and have no sources to feeding. Executive Director of the WFP, David Beasley had seen the level of devastation first hand as he saw women and children walk many kilometers in search of food.
“These were the ones who were healthy enough to make it”, he said. He added that 14,000 people are near catastrophic conditions of hunger and many of Southern Madagascans are on the brink of starvation.
The situation in Madagascar, unlike starvation in some African countries, is caused by climate change. Crops are dying and have failed to grow in the region and locals have been feeding on wild plants.
“Families have been living on raw red cactus fruits, wild leaves and locusts for months now”, a UN official said.
Global Acute Malnutrition in Madagascans kids has doubled over the past four months as food has become an uncommon blessing. Poor road networks and access have been snags to locals getting through to aid camps.
The WFP has said it needs almost $80m to help Madagascar solve its current problems and lift people out of their predicaments.
