Highlights
Due to the latest deterioration of the humanitarian situation since March 2016, the humanitarian response has started effectively in April 2016.
A 12-month humanitarian response plan (April 2016 to April 2017) has been jointly developed by all humanitarian actors; and a recovery plan linked to longterm drought mitigation will be developed in order to establish good foundations and effective linkages to longer term development.
A third of the US$70m required for the response has been received. $34.5m is needed for the first 6 months of the acute emergency phase.
Despite improvement in the nutrition situation in five districts between February and April 2016, three new municipalities have reached the emergency threshold (GAM >15%) and the number of municipalities with GAM between 10 and 15% has remained unchanged.
150,000 people receive food assistance in April/May, 300,000 children under age were 5 screened for acute malnutrition, and 106,300 people gained access to safe water through new or rehabilitated water points.
Situation Overview
Like many parts of Southern Africa, Madagascar has been hit by an El Nino-induced drought, mostly in its chronically arid zone referred to as the Grand Sud, which has been hit by two consecutive years of prolonged erratic rainfall.
The Grand Sud, where 1.8 million people reside, is the least developed part in the country. Madagascar has the fourth highest stunting rates in the world. Nearly 10 per cent of all children suffer from acute malnutrition nationally, and nearly 20 per cent of children in drought-affected districts (nutrition screening, April 2016). Under-five and infant mortality in the Grand Sud is already 42 per cent and 47 per cent higher than the national average respectively. The most vulnerable groups are the estimated 267,000 women of childbearing age, including 51,000 pregnant women, and 205,000 children under the age of 5 (WHO rapid assessment, May 2016). Access to water and sanitation is also a major concern.
This chronic drought situation is further aggravated by the impact of El Niño. The Grand Sud only received 50% of normal rains since May 2015, with significant implications for agriculture.
In the absence of a functioning early warning system (Systeme d’Alerte Precoce) since 2012, only the data from the three different assessments available in March 2016 allowed for the determination of the scope and the magnitude of the situation: 665,000 people (including 333,750 women and girls) are severely food insecure, the highest figure in a decade. In April 2016 mass screening targeting children under age 5 showed pockets of acute malnutrition from 15 per cent to 22 per cent in drought-affected communes, over 7,000 children are currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and close to 32,000 suffer from moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). An estimated 80 per cent of losses are predicted for the main harvest in June 2016.
Women and girls are affected disproportionately by this crisis. Lack of access to clean water means that girls must spend hours every day accessing water instead of going to school; boys spend hours every day leading cattle to water instead of going to school; and children with diarrhea struggle to recover from dehydration. The humanitarian situation due to the ongoing drought aggravates the already challenging education context in these regions.
Enrolment rates, ranging from 40 per cent to 53 per cent, are much lower than the average for Madagascar (69 per cent).
According to the GEOGLAM Early Warning Crop Monitor Bulletin of April 2016, “although the climatic phenomenon (El Nino) is already declining after reaching its maximum strength in late 2015, the consequences on affected populations have not yet reached their peak and the aftermath will continue during 2016 and far into 2017. In particular the full effects of El Niño on food security are expected at the end of 2016 and at the beginning of 2017”.
The peak of the crisis is not yet been reached.