The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Thursday called for urgent action to assist hundreds of thousands of people at the edge of famine in southern Madagascar due to the ongoing drought
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2021) The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Thursday called for urgent action to assist hundreds of thousands of people at the edge of famine in southern Madagascar due to the ongoing drought.
"The unrelenting drought in southern Madagascar is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine. With acute malnutrition rates continuing to rise, urgent action is required to address this unfolding humanitarian crisis," the WFP said in a press release.
Up to 80% of the population in certain areas had to resort to such desperate measures as eating locusts, raw red cactus fruits or wild leaves, to survive, the UN agency said.
"WFP needs US$74 million for the next six months to save the lives in southern Madagascar and prevent a catastrophe. Following alarm calls received from the Amboasary district on the severity of the food crisis, WFP has been progressively assisting up to 750,000 people through food and cash distributions each month," the press release read.
Madagascar's southern regions with semi-arid weather conditions and unprecedented drastic sandstorms have been in distress since last September with the start of the lean season, when families had already depleted their food supplies, with no seeds left for the November-December planting season.
