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WFP / MADAGASCAR DROUGHT
STORY: WFP / MADAGASCAR DROUGHT
TRT: 3:26
SOURCE: WFP
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WFP ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / MALAGASY / NATS
DATELINE: 7-17 JUNE 2021, AMBOASARY DISTRICT / AMBOVOMBE DISTRICT, MADAGASCAR
9 JUNE 2021, AMBOASARY DISTRICT, MADAGASCAR
1. Aerial shots, drought scourged land and people trying to farm
8 JUNE 2021, AMBOASARY DISTRICT, MADAGASCAR
2. Wide shot, Tamaria and children sitting outside shelter
3. Med shot, Tamaria holding dried survival foods
4. SOUNDBITE (Malagasy) Tamaria, mother:
“In the morning, I prepare this plate of insects. I clean them up as best as I can given the near total absence of water. It's been 8 months that my children and I have been eating this plant every day and exclusively because we have nothing else to eat and no rain to allow us to harvest what we have sown.”
12 JUNE 2021, AMBOASARY DISTRICT, MADAGASCAR
5. Wide shot, malnourished children gathered to be tested
6. Med shot, malnourished orphans who lost their mother to hunger
7. Med shot, malnourished child being tested
8. Close up, malnourished child
9. SOUNDBITE (Malagasy) Bole, mother of three taking care of two orphans after their mother died from hunger:
“I rely on God. Today we have absolutely nothing to eat except cactus leaves that we are trying to clean up. We have nothing left. Their mother is dead, and my husband is dead. What do you want me to say? Our life is all about looking for cactus leaves again and again to survive.”
17 JUNE 2021, AMBOVOMBE DISTRICT, MADAGASCAR
10. Various shots, people waiting at nutrition centre in Ankako
11. Tilt down, child being weighed at nutrition centre
12. SOUNDBITE (English) David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP):
“It’s seven times worse than it was just a year ago. Seven times more children are in trouble. Why? Because of drought. We’re facing the worst drought in over 40 years, and this is an area where people depend on their own agriculture; homegrown school meals, smallholder farmers, this is how they live down here but with drought back-to-back to back, people can’t survive; and so, the government partnering with WFP and others we’re doing the best we can, but it’s a terrible situation. But, with the World Food Programme, if we get the support we need, the funds we need, we can stop the suffering.”
7 JUNE 2021, AMBOVOMBE DISTRICT, MADAGASCAR
13. Various shots, people receiving food aid at WFP distribution site
14. Various shots, mother and children having a meal
World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, urged the world to step-up and take action after bearing witness to the invisible crisis enveloping Southern Madagascar, where whole communities are teetering on the edge of starvation.
Southern Madagascar is experiencing its worst drought in four decades with more than 1.14 million people food insecure. Of those, an estimated 14,000 people are already in catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5), and WFP said this will double to 28,000 by October.
The gravity of the situation has forced thousands of people to leave their homes in search of food while those remaining have resorted to extreme coping measures for survival, like foraging for wild food. Due to the remote location of the communities and weak road infrastructure, few people have been able to access the area.
The Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under five in Madagascar has almost doubled over the last four months, reaching an alarming 16.5 percent. Amongst the worst affected is the district of Ambovombe where GAM rates of 27 percent indicate a life-threatening scenario for many children.
SOUNDBITE (English) David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP):
“It’s seven times worse than it was just a year ago. Seven times more children are in trouble. Why? Because of drought. We’re facing the worst drought in over 40 years, and this is an area where people depend on their own agriculture; homegrown school meals, smallholder farmers, this is how they live down here but with drought back-to-back to back, people can’t survive; and so, the government partnering with WFP and others we’re doing the best we can, but it’s a terrible situation. But, with the World Food Programme, if we get the support we need, the funds we need, we can stop the suffering.”
WFP said it has been working closely with the Malagasy government and other partners since late last year to address severe hunger. However, the Programme said as the crisis deepens those efforts must be intensified. Last week Beasley met with the Prime Minister and senior officials to identify immediate and long-term solutions to this crisis.
WFP said it needs 78.6 million USD to provide lifesaving food in the next lean season in order to stop a preventable tragedy from unfolding.
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