![](\"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/unicef_a_gaza.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The dusty south of the country has always been dry, but biannual rains meant farmers could plant and harvest their crops \u2013 usually sweet potatoes and maize \u2013 twice a year. It was enough to see them and their families through the lean seasons.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But for the last two years those rains have failed, once mighty rivers have dried to a trickle and crops have died. People, especially children, have begun to starve.<\/p>\n
\u2018There was no rain\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Liatinahie is a farmer and mother of 10. She and her husband lost their crops earlier this year and began to run out of food. Although the whole family was hungry, their youngest daughter suffered the most.<\/p>\n \u201cI had seeds and planted sweet potatoes, but because there was no rain, they dried up,\u201d recalled Liatinahie. \u201cI noticed my daughter was getting thinner but there was no food and when she got even thinner I took her to the health centre.\u201d<\/p>\n Almost every farmer in the three drought-affected regions of southern Madagascar has lost crops. In the last 20 years, the average annual rainfall here has fallen from 111 ml to a mere 27.5 ml. While droughts used to be the exception, occurring perhaps once every 10 years, now they\u2019re the norm \u2013 and so is malnutrition among thousands of children throughout the drought affected area. <\/p>\n Alleviating the crisis<\/span><\/p>\n Nurse Tianason Sombason Mandanaina works at rural health centre near Tsihombe. He has personally treated hundreds of malnourished children in the last few months\u00a0 <\/p>\n \u201cAround 80 per cent\u00a0 of children under five in this area are affected by malnutrition, 70 per cent suffer from acute severe malnutrition and 10 per cent from moderate malnutrition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n UNICEF, in partnership with the World Food Programme and the Malagasy Ministry of Health, is attempting to alleviate the crisis. Through an early warning system \u2013 and with the help of community volunteers who go door to door \u2013 an estimated 80 per cent of malnourished children in the drought-affected regions have been reached. <\/p>\n Children at risk of malnutrition are weighed and measured at local health centres. Each child is then examined and, if necessary, given doses of fortified ready-to-use therapeutic food. <\/p>\n Long-lasting effects<\/span><\/p>\n After six weeks of treatment, Liatinahie\u2019s daughter is chubbier and more energetic; even so, it will be another month and half before she is fully recovered. <\/p>\n For some children, the effects last far longer. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is a more long-term impact, and you can see it in pre-school children that have been malnourished. They are always tired, and when they reach school age they struggle to keep up,\u201d said Mr. Mandanaina.<\/p>\n To ensure that malnourished children recover, and that their doses of ready-to-use therapeutic food is not shared with better-nourished siblings, families of malnourished children also receive given rice, chick peas and palm oil. <\/p>\n A few recent rains have provided some respite for farmers, but their beleaguered supplies won\u2019t see them through the next six months when the next rains are due, if they come at all. Through climate change, the drought and malnutrition crisis in Madagascar is threatening to become the status quo, and malnutrition a way of life.<\/p>\n Source<\/p>\n