Famines in the Modern Day: What Madagascar's Current Crisis Means to the World

More than a million people in Madagascar face a year of food scarcity due to the worst drought in 40 years.

"Without rain, they will not be able to return to the fields and feed their families," Julie Reversé, emergency coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Madagascar, said. And others are not afraid to say that if the situation does not improve and the rain does not fall, they will die."

According to the Famine Early Warning System Network, most poor households are forced to rely on foraging for difficult-to-eat wild foods and leaves, which can be harmful to children and pregnant women. People have been consuming termites and combining clay with tamarind, according to aid organizations.

Famine in the 21^st Century

In the twentieth century, famine killed almost 75 million people, but it had all but vanished in recent decades. It's back again, all of a sudden.

Famines are rare occurrences in which large populations are deprived of food, resulting in mass starvation and death. Since acute malnutrition damages human immune systems, the infectious disease kills more people than famine. This leaves people more vulnerable to deadly diseases like measles, as well as mild ailments like diarrhea. Children under the age of five are particularly vulnerable.

Famine victims may also face other consequences, such as widespread malnutrition, wealth depletion, social support network collapse, distress migration, and destitution.

Famines are caused by a series of events that we can track and forecast. That means we will deter them by taking appropriate public action promptly.

Agricultural productivity and rainfall patterns, food prices and price trends, and disputes are all monitored by early warning systems like FEWSNET. They still keep track of patterns in the food supply, starvation, and mortality, as well as labor migration among at-risk groups.

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Madagascar Famine

Children's lives are in jeopardy, especially those under the age of five, whose malnutrition rates have reached "alarming" levels, according to Amer Daoudi, senior director of global WFP operations, speaking via videolink from Madagascar's capital Antananarivo.

He added that the harvest would be about 40% lower than the 5-year average.

Drought

Following five years of drought, exacerbated this year by sandstorms and late rains, malnutrition among children under the age of five nearly doubled to 16% from 9% in the four months leading up to March 2021, he stated.

A rate of 15% is considered an emergency, and some districts estimate that 27 percent of children under the age of five, or one in every four, are suffering from acute malnutrition, which causes wasting, he added.

"I saw disturbing pictures of starving, malnourished children, and not just the children, but mothers, caregivers, and the general population in the villages we visited," Daoudi said.

"They're on the outskirts of famine; these are images I haven't seen in a long time around the world," the veteran aid worker said.

He noted that the WFP is requesting $75 million to meet immediate needs through September.

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